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Introduction
What happens when our children, grandchildren, and future generations find a world depleted of its resources, a world facing devastating consequences of climate change and a world with extreme poverty?
Emerging technology has the potential to make work a lot easier for individuals and businesses, and it also has the potential to widen the gap between the haves and have-nots. As we embrace the new technologies, what are we intentionally doing to bridge that gap?
Historically, most businesses have had goals of profit and shareholder wealth maximization even if it is at the expense of humanity or the planet. If left unchecked, this could continue. We must be intentional about leaving the world better than we found it, and having all humanity live with dignity.
What is Sustainability?
You know about emerging technology from my previous posts, but what is Sustainability?
The United Nations Brundtland Commission defines sustainability as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. We do not need to reinvent the wheel; we already have common sustainability goals that we can work towards globally called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
SDGs are a set of global goals that all Member States of the United Nations adopted in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.
What are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
There are 17 SDGs, and they include the following:
- No poverty
- Zero hunger
- Good health and well being
- Quality education
- Gender equality
- Clean water and sanitation
- Affordable and clean energy
- Decent work and economic growth
- Industry, innovation and infrastructure
- Reduced inequalities
- Sustainable cities and communities
- Responsible consumption and production
- Climate action
- Life below water
- Life on land
- Peace, justice and strong institutions
- Partnerships for the goals
In subsequent blog posts, I will look at how we can marry the two – Emerging technology and SDGs – to have more impact in addressing global challenges where no one is left behind, including our planet.
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