SDG Accord
The SDG Education Accord is the Universities and Colleges sector's collective response to the Sustainable Development Goals
The SDGs/Global Goals are 17 goals that outline the vision for a sustainable world by 2030. The 17 goals and underlying targets were created and signed by 193 countries at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in 2015. The goals seek to finish the job that was started by the Millennium Goals which ran from 2000 to 2015 and brought 850,000,000 people out of extreme poverty and yet saw carbon emissions increase by 9,850,000 kilotons.
The 17 Global Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice.
This initiative comes from the Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges (EAUC) and is a great example of the power EAUC membership has on the global stage.
The purpose of the SDG Accord is twofold:
First it is to inspire, celebrate and advance the critical role that education has in delivering the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the value it brings to governments, business and wider society.
Secondly, the Accord is a commitment institutions are making to do more to deliver the goals, to annually report on progress, and to do so in ways which share the learning with each other both nationally and internationally.
The SDGs at Kent
In 2018 the University’s Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Karen Cox signed the SDG Accord as an agreement to incorporate the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals into everything we do from our leadership, operations and engagement to the teaching curriculum we deliver.
Since then the University has been working to deliver on goals including ending poverty, promoting gender equality, creating sustainable cities and communities, minimising our impact on the environment and offering inclusive and equitable education opportunities for all.
Much of this work is coordinated through our FutureProof programme which provides help and guidance to all areas of the University on how they can incorporate the SDGs into their operations.
