The 17 UN SDGs Explained for CSR Teams

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are 17 global goals adopted in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. They cover everything from poverty and hunger to climate action and gender equality.

For CSR teams, they're increasingly important: as ESG reporting frameworks evolve, stakeholders expect organisations to demonstrate which goals their programmes contribute to — and how.

A quick tour of all 17 goals

SDG 1: No Poverty — Eliminating poverty in all forms. Volunteering connections: food banks, financial literacy programmes, community support services.

SDG 2: Zero Hunger — Ending hunger and achieving food security. Connections: food bank volunteering, community gardening, nutrition programmes.

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being — Ensuring healthy lives for all ages. Connections: health awareness events, mental health support, NHS volunteering.

SDG 4: Quality Education — Inclusive and equitable quality education. Connections: school reading programmes, employability skills workshops, mentoring.

SDG 5: Gender Equality — Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls. Connections: women in business mentoring, awareness campaigns.

SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation — Clean water for all. Connections: river clean-ups, water conservation awareness.

SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy — Access to clean energy. Connections: energy poverty volunteering, clean energy advocacy.

SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth — Promoting sustained economic growth and decent work. Connections: employability workshops, enterprise skills programmes.

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure — Building resilient infrastructure. Connections: STEM education, digital skills volunteering.

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities — Reducing inequality within and between countries. Connections: disability support, refugee assistance, equality campaigns.

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities — Making cities inclusive and sustainable. Connections: community garden projects, litter picks, housing support.

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production — Sustainable consumption patterns. Connections: recycling drives, repair cafes, surplus food redistribution.

SDG 13: Climate Action — Taking urgent action on climate change. Connections: tree planting, rewilding, environmental education, carbon literacy.

SDG 14: Life Below Water — Protecting marine ecosystems. Connections: coastal clean-ups, ocean conservation awareness.

SDG 15: Life on Land — Protecting terrestrial ecosystems. Connections: conservation volunteering, biodiversity projects, park clean-ups.

SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions — Promoting just, peaceful and inclusive societies. Connections: advocacy, justice system volunteering, refugee support.

SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals — Strengthening global partnerships. Connections: cross-sector collaboration events, charity partnerships.

How to map your programme

Start by listing your regular events and asking: which goals does this contribute to, primarily? Most events contribute to one or two goals clearly.

Don't try to claim all 17. A focused claim on 3–5 goals that your programme genuinely contributes to is more credible and more useful than a scattered claim across all of them.

With Kind Folk lets you set a primary SDG and up to four secondary SDGs per event. These roll up automatically into your SDG impact dashboard.

What stakeholders want to see

The most common ask from boards and investors is: "Which SDGs do we contribute to, and what's the evidence?"

The evidence is your tracking data. Hours per goal, events per goal, outcomes per goal. With Kind Folk generates this automatically for every event — all you have to do is set the SDG when you create the event.