Durham, UCL, Harvard, and Yale among 56 universities worldwide joining UN-backed initiative to help scale up action in support of Sustainable Development Goals
University leaders from 56 top academic institutions worldwide, including University College London (UCL), Harvard, Yale, and China's Zhejiang University (ZJU), have committed to working together to help meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals as part of a UN-backed initiative launched today.
Drawing together university leaders from across six continents and 30 countries, the Joint Statement of Global University Leaders on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, was officially signed this week.
With less than nine years to go until the SDGs target date, the initiative is aimed at ramping up research, technological development, and sharing of expertise to help meet the 17 goals agreed by nations worldwide, which cover a range of issues including climate action, clean energy deployment, responsible consumption and production, gender equality, and poverty reduction.
It comes amid slow progress worldwide towards meeting the SDGs, in addition to growing concern that the coronavirus crisis may have pushed the sustainable development agenda further down many nations' priority lists.
"More equal and mutually beneficial partnerships must be developed upon scientific principles, academic values, a shared vision and shared goals which place people and the planet at the centre," said University of Oslo rector Svein Stølen, one of the statement's signatories.
The universities of Bristol and Durham in the UK have also signed the statement, as well as University College Dublin, six US institutions, seven from Japan, and five from Hong Kong.
The initiative sets our five key priorities which signatories have agreed to, including implementing the concept of sustainable development, improving sustainable development competence, supporting scientific research in response to global challenges, working with global partners to provide innovative solutions, and constructive transnational cooperation on specific issues.
To mark the joint statement, a forum was held aimed at enabling leaders to share expertise on how to scale up and accelerate efforts to deliver on the 2030 agenda, and saw figures discuss how to harness the power of technology and scientific collaborations to help meet the goals.
"The organisation of the forum is timely, especially given the increasingly pivotal role of universities not only in fostering understanding and knowledge, but also in contributing to the building of knowledge-based societies and for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals," said Stefania Giannini, assistant director-general for education at UNESCO.
Other universities joining the initiative include Peking University, Kyoto University, Korea University, National University of Singapore, University of Toronto, École Polytechnique, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, the University of Sydney, Stellenbosch University and Universidade Estadual de Campinas.