SDG Timeline

The concept of sustainable development formed the basis of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The summit marked the first international effort to develop action plans and strategies for moving towards a more sustainable world.

In 1987, the Brundtland Commission released its report, entitled “Our Common Future.” The Commission had investigated concerns that human activity was having severe and negative impacts on the planet, and that existing patterns of growth and development would be unsustainable if continued.

The concept of sustainable development first received significant international recognition in 1972 at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm. Although the term was not yet in use, the international community acknowledged the principle — now central to sustainable development — that both development and the environment, previously treated as separate issues, could and should be managed together in a mutually beneficial way.

The term itself was popularised 15 years later in Our Common Future, the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, which included what is now considered the classic definition of sustainable development:

“Development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

It was not until the Rio Summit in 1992, however, that prominent world leaders recognised sustainable development as the enduring global challenge it remains today. Activism and policy initiatives continued, leading to the creation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) in 2000, designed to guide the world toward a more sustainable future by 2015.

Recognising the value of the MDGS in raising awareness and the need for a post-2015 development framework, countries agreed at Rio+20 in 2012 to form an open working group tasked with developing a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS).

Following over a year of negotiations, the Open Working Group submitted its recommendations. In August 2015, the 193 UN member states reached consensus on the outcome document titled “Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.

In September 2015, countries officially adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These goals took effect in January 2016 and today form the foundation of the Venturewave Capital Investment Assessment approach.