UC Davis and the City of Sacramento Release Voluntary Local Review of Global Sustainable Development Goals
First-ever report that aligns the City of Sacramento’s 2040 General Plan and Climate Action & Adaptation Plan to the UN Sustainable Development Goals
UC Davis and the City of Sacramento have released the first-ever Voluntary Local Review for Sacramento.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by all UN member states in 2015, laying out a framework to end poverty, rescue the planet, and build a peaceful world. The SDGs include goals such as zero hunger, good health and well-being, reduced inequalities, and climate action—all of which are interlinked and are directly relevant to priorities in local communities.
In addition to Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) that many countries have prepared, a growing number of cities and municipalities are developing Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) to align the SDGs with local needs and priorities and to report on progress toward the goals. VLRs have also been completed at the sub-national level in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. At the time of this publication, New York City, Los Angeles, Orlando, Pittsburgh and the state of Hawaii have developed VLRs in the United States.
This VLR for the City of Sacramento maps the process and outcomes of Sacramento’s 2040 General Plan and Climate Action & Adaptation Plan to the global goals and key principles. This project was completed by a joint team from UC Davis and the City of Sacramento. The collaborative process demonstrates the value of more robust connections and partnership opportunities between universities and the cities and municipalities in their regions. Universities and cities both have central roles to play in achieving the SDGs. Bringing their expertise together can help inform and accelerate collective progress on these goals.
This VLR highlights several cross-cutting areas of focus by the City that support the SDGs and the international commitment to No One Left Behind, including community engagement, environmental justice, arts, culture and the creative economy, and youth involvement. The report describes key challenges for each goal in Sacramento and presents examples of the solutions the City is developing and implementing to achieve each goal.
The SDGs represent a shared vision for a more sustainable, equitable, and inclusive world. This collaboration underscores our commitment to not only recognize the transformative power of these global objectives but also actively contribute to their realization locally, within the fabric of Sacramento. "-Gary S. May, UC Davis Chancellor and Darrell Steinberg, City of Sacramento Mayor
The Sacramento VLR is a first step in explicitly connecting the priorities for the City of Sacramento to the shared global goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This is anticipated to provide a baseline for future collaborative work between the City of Sacramento and UC Davis to advance the SDGs in Sacramento and to inspire, inform and support other cities and universities to engage in similar joint efforts.