Guest Editorial: Johnson Matthey and The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2015–2030

摘要

It has long been recognised that sustainability is crucial to business and Johnson Matthey’s sustainability goals for 2017 reflected this (1). But the reverse is also true. Developments in sustainability will be heavily reliant on business involvement, and private sector companies are expected to play a leading role in this. At the United Nations (UN) summit in September 2015, the UN announced the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These were developed after lengthy consultations involving many stakeholders including international business, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), policy makers and civil society. Their aim is to tackle the most pressing global issues of our time and this requires collective action. The UN SDGs are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. There are 17 universal goals for 2030 (Figure 1) (2), each providing guidelines and targets for all countries and organisations to adopt in line with their own priorities. They are intended to be collaborative and bring about systemic change in the world.