July 2021 - A new partnership between UN-Habitat and a community of business leaders aims to support 1,000 cities to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which could have a huge impact on the lives of over a billion people from developing, low and middle-income countries.
The Global CEO Alliance (GCEOA) and UN-Habitat signed a Memorandum of Understanding to support cities in achieving the SDGs. The SDGs were adopted by world leaders for national governments, but cities are now charting their performance on the achievement of the SDGs. Cities host 55 per cent of the world’s population and implementing the SDGs in cities can have positive economic, social and environmental impacts globally and improve the quality of life locally.
UN-Habitat’s SDG Cities Global Initiative supports cities to generate data, engage city residents in evidence-based strategic planning geared towards improving social, economic and environmental conditions in line with the SDGs, and implementing them through developing and financing high impact projects. The Initiative also strengthens the ability of local authorities to plan and manage their cities effectively. In order to reach its ambitious target, all data, diagnostic and training tools will be digitized and easy to access and use.
James Donovan the Chair of the Global CEO Alliance welcomed this agreement as a way to create more sustainable cities.