Agenda 2030: the Sustainable Development Goals

In September 2015 the United Nations General Assembly approved the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a universal action plan to “Transform Our World,” putting an end to poverty in all its forms and reduce inequalities, favouring global prosperity through economic growth and the protection of the environment from an inclusive and integrating perspective.

The SDGs will have a major effect on the agendas of states in the next decade but they also require a high degree of involvement by all social actors involved the system, especially the private sector.

Among the 17 goals approved –and the 169 associated goals– water management is postulated as one of the key factors to achieve success in the road to sustainable development. Goal 6: Water and sanitation, direct concerns the importance of guaranteeing the availability of water and its sustainable management as well as access to sanitation services for everyone. But water is not only present through this goal but also has an important influence on the rest of the goals, as seen by the importance of water in the spheres of life and social and economic progress.

As a leading water management company in the world, Aqualia assumes its responsibility in achieving the SDGs with a global sustainability model that contributes to attaining the proposed goals through its direct and indirect activity.

In 2016 the IESE Business School and Aqualia(8) worked on the preparation of the case study of the New Cairo treatment plant, the first public/private collaboration project in the water management sector developed in Egypt, led by Aqualia and that, among other aspects, shows the plant’s contribution to achieving the sustainable development goals.