An SDG-based framework for assessing urban stormwater management systems

Abstract Nature-Based Solutions for stormwater management on top of handling water should, ideally, deliver a multitude of other services to society; they are often seen as a lever for transforming cities in a more livable, green, resilient and sustainable direction, and these measures should be acknowledged as part of the services delivered. In this study we assess the services that Nature-Based Solutions for stormwater management deliver with reference to targets and indicators from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; we also develop local, project level indicators that inform and are informed by the more broad Sustainable Development Goals indicators. We demonstrate through Danish cases ranging from lot to city scale that the proposed framework can help inform decision-makers about the sustainability of Nature-Based Solutions for stormwater management. Despite difficulties in matching local indicators to SDG indicators, this first attempt at an assessment framework provides insight on which services of a project help to work towards the Sustainable Development Goals and, if used in the planning phase, could facilitate the design of projects that work focused and informed towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

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Conceptual Framework for the Role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

International Journal of Management Excellence ◽

10.17722/ijme.v13i3.1113 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 1989-1993

Author(s):

Prabhasara Athurupane ◽

Bhagya Wickramsinghe

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Conceptual Framework ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Decision Makers ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Environmental Decision Making ◽

Information And Communication ◽

Development Goals ◽

Role Of Information

This paper seeks to evaluate the role of ICT in achieving the sustainable development goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015. While SDGs do not specifically address ICT, or include a goal on development of ICT, as argued (Berleur & Avgerou, 2005)in this paper, it is an underlying element embedded in the very concept of sustainable development rooted in the definition as propounded by the Brundtland Report. The objective of this paper is to evaluate whether there is a possibility to develop a conceptual framework to ground the use of ICTs in achieving SDGs. For this purpose, this research has evaluated the common conceptual frameworks developed by scholars and posits that rather than developing an all-encompassing framework, it is possible to identify certain necessary features for the role of the ICTs in achieving SDGs. This approach enables policy and decision makers to look at the role of ICT as an integral component of socio-economic and environmental decision making and implementation.

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Sustainable Development and European Banks: A Non-Financial Disclosure Analysis

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12156146 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (15) ◽

pp. 6146

Author(s):

Simona Cosma ◽

Andrea Venturelli ◽

Paola Schwizer ◽

Vittorio Boscia

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Business Model ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Stock Exchange ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Financial Disclosure ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Support Organizations ◽

European Banks ◽

Development Goals

This paper aims at contributing to the debate on the relationships between the European financial sector and sustainable development. Using a non-financial disclosure analysis of 262 European banks, the research sought, first, to investigate the “scope” of the contribution of European banks to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and, second, to explore the factors that seem to differentiate the SDGs approach among banks. The results show that country of origin, legal system, and adoption of an integrated report seem to differentiate banks in terms of contribution to the SDGs. The business model and stock exchange listing, conversely, do not seem to represent discriminatory factor in the contribution of banks toward the SDGs. The study can be useful for managers and decision makers to develop policies to support organizations in contributing to the SDGs.

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Localizing Indicators of SDG11 for an Integrated Assessment of Urban Sustainability—A Case Study of Hainan Province

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su131911092 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (19) ◽

pp. 11092

Author(s):

Chi Zhang ◽

Zhongchang Sun ◽

Qiang Xing ◽

Jialong Sun ◽

Tianyu Xia ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Development Planning ◽

Hainan Province ◽

Assessment Framework ◽

Rapid Urbanization ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Development Goals ◽

Development Assessment ◽

The City

Rapid urbanization has brought many problems, including housing shortages, traffic congestion, air pollution, and lack of public space. To solve these problems, the United Nations proposed “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, which contains 17 Sustainable Development Goals covering three dimensions: economy, society, and environment. Among them, Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG11), “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”, can be measured at the city level. So far SDG11 still lacks three-quarters of the data required to accurately assess progress towards the goal. In this paper, we localized the indicators of SDG11 and collected Earth observation data, statistical data, and monitoring data at the city and county levels to build a better urban sustainable development assessment framework. Overall, we found that Haikou and Sanya were close to achieving sustainable development goals, while other cities were still some distance away. In Hainan Province, there was a spatial distribution pattern of high development levels in the north and south, but low levels in the middle and west. Through the Moran’s I Index of Hainan Province, we found that the sustainable development of Hainan Province did not yet form part of integrated development planning. The sustainable development assessment framework and localization methods proposed in this paper at the city and county levels provide references for the sustainable development of Hainan. At the same time, it also provides a reference for the evaluation of county-level sustainable development goals in cities in China and even the world.

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DW2RDF4SDG – Ontology modeling from multi-dimensional cubes for Sustainable Development Goals

Sistemas y Telemática ◽

10.18046/syt.v16i44.2724 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 16 (44) ◽

pp. 9-24

Author(s):

Flavia Serra ◽

Tatiana Delgado

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Decision Makers ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Ontology Modeling ◽

United Nations Environmental Program ◽

Development Goals ◽

Basic Expression ◽

Different Dimensions ◽

Multidimensional Models

Multidimensional models and their measures regarding different dimensions are powerful instruments for decision makers. An ontology, in its basic expression as RDF, represents the reality from relationships between classes, and it is the base for linked data of the semantic Web. This work provides a basic methodology to obtain an ontology RDF from a multidimensional model of a data warehouse, capable to be aligned to other ontology of the Sustainable Developments Goals. Specifically, an approaching of alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals Interface Ontology [SDGIO] emerging by the United Nations Environmental Program [UNEP] is included. This methodology labeled as DW2RDF4SDG is instrumented for the SDG 6, aimed to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

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Sustainable Materials and their Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A Critical Review Based on an Italian Example

Molecules ◽

10.3390/molecules26051407 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (5) ◽

pp. 1407

Author(s):

Elza Bontempi ◽

Giampiero P. Sorrentino ◽

Alessandra Zanoletti ◽

Ivano Alessandri ◽

Laura E. Depero ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Critical Review ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Materials Science ◽

Green Building ◽

Decision Makers ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Research Activities ◽

Development Goals ◽

Sustainable Materials

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been proposed to give a possible future to humankind. Due to the multidimensional characteristic of sustainability, SDGs need research activities with a multidisciplinary approach. This work aims to provide a critical review of the results concerning sustainable materials obtained by Italian researchers affiliated to the National Interuniversity Consortium of Materials Science and Technology (INSTM) and their contribution to reaching specific indicators of the 17 SDGs. Data were exposed by using the Web of Science (WoS) database. In the investigated period (from 2016 to 2020), 333 works about sustainable materials are found and grouped in one of the following categories: chemicals (33%), composites (11%), novel materials for pollutants sequestration (8%), bio-based and food-based materials (10%), materials for green building (8%), and materials for energy (29%). This review contributes to increasing the awareness of several of the issues concerning sustainable materials but also to encouraging the researchers to focus on SDGs’ interconnections. Indeed, the mapping of the achievements can be relevant to the decision-makers to identify the opportunities that materials can offer to achieve the final goals. In this frame, a “Sustainable Materials Partnership for SDGs” is envisaged for more suitable resource management in the future.

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