Benchmark Endorses the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Benchmark Signaats endorses the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The Agenda, adopted in 2015 by all 193 members of the United Nations General Assembly, “is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity,” according to its Preamble. The goals “seek to realize the human rights of all and to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.”
Benchmark shares the aspiration for a world without poverty and hunger, where education and health care are available to all, and where natural resources are sustainably managed.
Printing: a Sustainable Means of Communication
Printing and paper can play key roles in sustainable development. Paper is one of the world’s infinitely renewable resources, and sustainably-managed forests offer one of the least expensive and most effective ways to fight against climate change. Forests are a natural mechanism for removing excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while protecting biodiversity and wildlife habitat.
Going Paperless is Not Going Green
“Going paperless” does have an impact on the environment—but not the impact one might expect.
Transmitting large volumes of data through the cloud takes energy, space and equipment. There are about 3000 data centers in the US and 8000 around the world, which collectively consume as much as 400 terawatt-hours of electricity a year. That’s roughly equivalent to the annual power output of 45 nuclear power plants.
Data centers not only consume vast quantities of electricity, but also require water for cooling. The average data center uses as much as 5 million gallons of water a day for this purpose. At that rate, the 3000 US data centers use 15 billion gallons of water daily—an amount roughly equivalent to the flow of the Mississippi River into the sea over the course of 45 minutes.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are:
Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
Read more at https://sdgs.un.org/goals.