University Commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their associated 169 targets were agreed by all countries at the United Nations in September 2015 and constitute a shared global framework of development priorities to 2030. They aim to bring an end to extreme poverty, promote prosperity and well-being for all, protect the environment and address climate change, and encourage good governance and peace and security.

Universities will have a vital role to play in addressing these critical global challenges and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Universities have a responsibility through their teaching to equip the next generation of leaders, innovators and thinkers to understand the global challenges facing the world and the role they can play in rising to meet these challenges. Through their research and training of research leaders, universities are at the forefront of finding sustainable social, economic, environmental and technical solutions to global problems. Finally through their own operations universities can pioneer innovation and can set an example to other sectors and businesses.

It is important for the future of the world that all universities play their part in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Hence, we, the undersigned universities:

• recognising the enormous social, economic and environmental challenges facing the world
• recognising that future development must take place in a way that is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable
• recognising that the Sustainable Development Goals establish an agenda for the achievement of sustainable development by 2030
• stressing the vitally important role that universities can play in achieving a sustainable future through teaching, research and operations

Agree that we will:

• support and promote the principles of the Sustainable Development Goals
• undertake research that provides solutions to sustainable development challenges
• provide the educational opportunity for our students to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development
• contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by ensuring our campuses and major programs are environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive, and
• report on our activities in support of the Sustainable Development Goals

Signatories

[As of 27 October 2020]

Professor Sandra Harding
Vice Chancellor and President
James Cook University
19 August 2016

Professor Warren Bebbington
Vice-Chancellor and President
The University of Adelaide
26 August 2016

Professor Glyn Davis
Vice-Chancellor
The University of Melbourne
31 August 2016

Professor Margaret Gardner AO
President and Vice-Chancellor
Monash University
1 September 2016

Professor Attila Brungs
Vice-Chancellor and President
University of Technology, Sydney
2 September 2016

Professor Paul Gough
Pro Vice-Chancellor
College of Design and Social Context
Chair of the RMIT Sustainability Committee
RMIT University
12 January 2017

Professor Barney Glover
Vice-Chancellor and President
Western Sydney University
3 March 2017

Professor Jane den Hollander AO
Vice-Chancellor
Deakin University
3 April 2017

Professor Grant Guilford
Vice-Chancellor
Victoria University of Wellington
7 June 2017

Professor Ian O’Connor
Vice Chancellor and President
Griffith University
13 October 2017

Professor Linda Kristjanson AO
Vice Chancellor
Swinburne University of Technology
21 June 2018

Professor Eeva Leinonen
Vice Chancellor and President
Murdoch University
29 March 2019

Professor Rufus Black
Vice-Chancellor and President
University of Tasmania
18 April 2019

Professor Tim Brailsford
Vice Chancellor and President
Bond University
9 July 2019

Professor Andrew Vann
Vice-Chancellor and President
Charles Sturt University
20 September 2019

Professor Paul Wellings
Vice-Chancellor
University of Wollongong
25 September 2019

Professor Peter Dawkins AO
Vice-Chancellor and President
Victoria University
16 March 2020

Professor Simon Maddocks
Vice-Chancellor and President
Charles Darwin University
26 October 2020

Led by

Please click here for further information about the Commitment and how to become a signatory.