[Withdrawn] Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals - December 2017
Updated 15 July 2021
The UK is committed to the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals. The most effective way to do this is by ensuring that the Goals are fully embedded in planned activity of each Government department. The most effective mechanism for coordinating implementation is the departmental planning process.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a historic global agreement to eradicate extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice and leave no one behind. Agreed by world leaders at the UN in 2015, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The SDGs are universal with all signatories expected to contribute to them internationally and deliver them domestically.
The UK was at the forefront of negotiating the SDGs and will be at the forefront of delivering them. The UK lobbied hard to make sure the SDGs support the continuation of work undertaken through the MDGs.
Below you can see some of the ways that the Government is supporting the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
How we will achieve this |
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Ensure the UK has a reliable, low cost and clean energy system |
Deliver affordable energy for households and businesses |
Manage our energy legacy safely and responsibly |
Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
How we will achieve this |
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Grow local economies |
Build integrated communities |
Ensure cleaner air for healthier people and ecosystems |
Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
How we will achieve this |
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Ensure cleaner, healthier, more productive and biologically diverse seas; and support a sustainable food sector |
Work to prevent the degradation of habitat and loss of species |
Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
How we will achieve this |
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A cleaner, healthier environment, benefiting people and the economy |
Work to prevent catastrophic environmental degradation |
Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development
How we will achieve this |
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Strengthen global peace, security and governance |
Tackle the causes of instability and insecurity |
Tackle crime and corruption |