On November 5-6, 2018 Edmonton hosted the Together 2018 conference on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Our discussions included what individual Albertans (and Canadians overall) as well as business and governments can do to contribute to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
One question I’ve been exploring as a sustainability performance measurement expert is what Alberta’s progress would look like through the lens of the 17 SDGs?
This short slide presentation shows some evidence of sustainability indicators of progress for Alberta that align with some of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. You will see that the results are positive in many instances but suggest room for improvement in many others.
Alberta enjoys very high levels of economic well-being including high life expectancy, high educational attainment, high levels of income, good air and water quality and generally happy people.
There are, however, areas needing improvement that include:
- Restoring damaged landscapes due to oil and gas development
- Continually rising incidence of various cancers
- A recent increase in overall crime rates (after many years of decline)
- High and steadily increasing levels of financial debt leaving many Albertans vulnerable to interest rate increases.
We certainly have room for improvement as we continue to work towards achieving the aspirations of the 17 SDGs.