Given the political situation of the UK over the past 2 years since the Brexit vote, it is
interesting to see how the UK fares in terms of sustainability. While it has hit the target on
some factors, in many other ways the UK has failed to shape up and to deliver what they
promised. We’re going to look into it a little here.

The UKSSD (UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development) put out a report – “Measuring
Up” – which measured the UK’s performance on targets set by the UN in terms of
sustainability. These include goals such as improving healthcare, reducing income disparity,
or improving the environmental impact of industry and the economy. The report found that
the UK was performing well in only 24% of these criteria, performed inadequately or had
gaps in their approach in 57% of them, and 15% of them had no policy in place or had simply
failed on.

There are 17 Sustainable Development Goals laid out by the UN, and out of these UK is
performing poorly on Economic Growth and Decent Work, for example. However it is also
performing well on Good Health and Well-being, despite other issues such as increasing
obesity rates which are at the forefront of the country’s problems. Given the recent
damning report from the UN regarding the UK government’s austerity measures and lack of
poverty solutions, this isn’t surprising and shows that it continues to be an issue that has to
be addressed.

On a positive note however, London is pursuing a sustainable city policy which involves
tasks such as trying to turn London into a low-carbon city by pursuing carbon-neutrality by
2050, making taking into account sustainable development and architecture a priority when
considering new developments, and they hope lead the way for other cities in the UK in
striving for sustainability. To do this, they’ll be monitoring the air quality to be able to take
measures to improve it and make the city a healthier place to live, and implement new
design rules to make new buildings and infrastructure carbon-neutral in future, following
the zero emissions plan.

Overall, the UK is addressing some of its sustainability issues – it recognises that problems
are there that need to be fixed. However the pace at which it’s solving its sustainability
problems and planning for the future is too slow for the UN and for the pace that is needed
to improve some of its most pressing issues.