Lecture 1: Sustainable development goals

Population growth

• Current world population ~8.2 Billion people (as of Jan 2025)

• Began to spike when healthcare became more advanced, introduction of antibiotics and vaccines

United Nations

• Has 196 member states and was founded in 1945

• 196 States work together to keep the global temperature rise well below 2C

• Tackles the global water crisis affecting over 2.1 billion people worldwide

What are the UN sustainable development goals?

• the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all

• they address global challenges, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environment, prosperity, peace and justice

How is the world doing with the SDGs?

Severely off track:

• 17% of the SDGs are on track
  → Clean water & sanitation (6), affordable & clean energy (7)

• ~50% show minimal or moderate progress
  → No poverty (1), Climate action (13)

• >33% progress has stalled or even regressed
  → Zero hunger (2), Life below water (14, Life on land (15)

SDG 2

Zero Hunger: Regression

• aims to end hunger worldwide

• >600 million people projected to face hunger by 2030

• production of food is linked to extraction and creation of resources e.g. nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilisers

What needs to be done:

• more food - fewer resources

• reduce env impact of growing and distributing food, identify new ways to grow food

• ensure farming systems are resilient to pertubations and pests

Palm Oil (SDG 2)

In many plantations 800-1000kg of N are applied per hectare vs ~200kg for wheat in the UK

SDG 6

Clean water and sanitation: Moderate Progress

• safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene for all

• in 2022: 2.2bil lacked safe drinking water, 3.5bil lacked sanitation, 2.2bil lacked hand washing facilities

• to meet 2030 targets, pace will have to accelerate 3-6x

• 2.4 billion people life in water stressed countries

• 81% of species dependent on inland wetlands have declined since 1970

• only 0.65% available freshwater (70% trapped in ice)

• arsenic in drinking water - SE asia

What needs to be done:

• more potable water needed

• reduced water waste

• ensure clean water is not contaminated

• grow crops that have less dependancy on external water

• ensure all households have sewage systems

SDG 7

Affordable and clean energy: Moderate progress

• 675mil people live in the dark (4/5 in sub-saharan africa)

• ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

• renewable energy represents over 18% of total primary energy consumption

• fossil fuel consumption dropped 0.4% to 81.5% (2022)

What needs to be done:

• less dependance on non-renewable sources

• better distribution of sources

SDG 11

Sustainable cities and communities:

• make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

• 1.1bil urban residents live in slums

• only 50% of urban residents have access to public transport

• 3 in 4 cities have less than 20% of area designated to public/green spaces

• 5billion people projected to live in cities by 2030

• cities occupy 3% earths land but produce 60-80% energy consumption and 75% carbon emissions

• 90% urban dwellers breathe unsafe air

What needs to be done:

• ensure cities have clean environments (air, water, green space, noise)

• carbon neutral cities

• conservation of green belts

• electrification of vehicles

SDG 12

Responsible consumption and production: Stagnation

• ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

• high income leaves greater footprint than low income

• on average each person wastes 120kg of food per year

• each year 1/3 food produced (1.3 bil tons) ends up rotting

• 2 billion people globally are overweight or obese

• food sector - 22% total GHG emissions

What needs to be done:

• find smarter ways of using existing resources

• soil!!!!!!!

• reduce wastage, recycle and re-use

SDG 13

Climate action: Marginal Progress

• take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

• now: the world will exceed 1.5C by 2035 and faces 2.5C by 2100

• the rate of sea-level rise has doubled in the last decade

• higher vunerability regions face 15x higher mortality due to disaster

• CO2 emissions have increased 50% since 1990

What needs to be done:

• shift away from ghg

• new technologies e.g. changes in battery efficiency

• nature-based solutions

How is the energy mix changing (UK)?

• UK one of best locations for wind power - avg 22.54GW of generation per 30 mins 2024

SDG 14

Life below water: Regression

• Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, se and marine resources for sustainable development

• 30% higher acidity than pre-industrial times

• 17 million metric-tons of plastic pollution in 2021

• >1/3 global fish stocks are overfished

What needs to be done:

• meta-ecosystem concept - don’t consider marine as seperate from land

SDG 15

Life on Land: Regression

• protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and biodiversity loss

• 100million hectares of healthy land was degraded every year from 2015-1019

• currently facing the largest species extinction crisis since the dinosaurs

• 1.6 bil people depend on forests for livelihood (70mil indigenous)

• forests contain >80% terrestrial species

• 2010-2015 3.3mil hectares of forest lost

• >80% human diet provided by plants

What needs to be done:

• plant trees

Publication:

• Hepburn et al

• capture of CO2 to create valuable products may lower the net costs of reducing emissions or removing CO2 from the atmosphere

• reviews 10 pathways for the utilisation of CO2

• involve: chemicals, fuels and microalgae (limited removal potential) construction materials utilise and remove CO2

• land based pathwats can increase agricultural output and remove CO2

Question: Should we bother with enhancing CO2 utilisation, but instead focus all efforts on emission reduction?

Question: Which technologies suggested strike you as being the most “sustainable”?