The Sustainable Development Goals - 17 good reasons for change

Here comes a brief deep-dive into the UN's global sustainable development goals, a tool for a better tomorrow:

The Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations - SDGs for short - have been on everyone's lips for more than 5 years now. More and more companies are acknowledging them with a brief nod, a mental "aha", and then pushing them aside, because there are too many other jobs to be done in our complex world.

We say, entrepreneurs and companies should write the SDGs in capital letters and not forget them in some dusty corner. And that's exactly why we need and want to talk to you about them today. Because the SDGs are an incredibly helpful and important guideline on the way to a better tomorrow. For all of us. Politically, economically, privately. And because for us at PLAN3T, they are one of the main pillars of our work. Yes, we know. Many companies say that. What makes us so different? A lot. But more of that later. First, let's take a first look at these sustainable development goals.

17 goals for a better tomorrow - an overview

Back to the beginning. In this case, back in 2015, the year Agenda 30 was adopted by the global community, and as part of it, a global plan was laid out to promote sustainable peace, prosperity, and protection for our PLAN3T. This plan includes 17 steps and goals to help fight global poverty, inequalities, global warming, etc. by 2030. This plan is global. It affects and involves, quite simply, all of us: global governments, civil societies, academia, and, of course: businesses.

Explaining all 17 goals to you at once would be a bit too much for today. So, for now, we would like to provide you with an overview of the goals.

As you can see, this global agenda is multifaceted and covers a wide range of topics. Climate change, its consequences, and causes, but also social and cultural matters. Many topics are interdependent, and therefore must be thought of in conjunction and not in isolation. At first and second glance, this can be overwhelming. But it can also be encouraging. Because it shows that we are all confronted with the same problems and can fight the challenges together as one big global community.

PLAN3T x SDGs - Our Status Quo

Let us talk a bit about us, about PLAN3T. As stated earlier, the SDGs play a big role in our work. With everything PLAN3T does and plans we want to actively do our part to ensure that these 17 goals are well achieved.

And this is also why these 17 goals guide our partner and project selection. These are, on the one hand, the compensation projects that offer you the option to offset your CO₂ emissions and, on the other hand, all partners and brands that we bring onboard our reward system.

The holistic approach instead of cherry-picking

As tempting as it may seem to cherry-pick the most convenient and obvious goals, this cannot be a solution. That's why we aim at ensuring that our approach is holistic, to reflect the SDGs in their entirety. Still, we would love to share our "favorite" goals with you: 12, 13, and 17.

12 - Sustainable consumption + production
On the one hand, we help you consume more sustainable products and with them, replace non-sustainable products. So we shift our consumption patterns away from less or non-sustainable consumer goods to the sustainable alternative. On the other hand, we offer brands with sustainable products or services a platform to present and show them to you.

13 - Climate action
We love CO₂ reductions. Since everything in our app is about CO₂ and its reduction, goal 13 is also so important to us, because with CO₂ reductions you become active against climate change - every day. How. You can understand, reduce and offset your CO₂ footprint in the PLAN3T app.

17 - Partnerships for the goals
Last but not least. We are convinced that we can tackle the climate crisis. But this can only be done together. That's why we rely on strong partnerships with strong sustainable brands and NGOs.

The SDGs + Climate Action in our Everyday Lives

We firmly believe that we can only rectify the current situation together. Hand in hand, in a strong global partnership. We believe in the potential and effectiveness of every single person, and that is exactly why we also believe that everyone should actively participate and take responsibility. In times when already children understand the credo "Leave no one behind", it is also a matter of using the collective momentum to involve everyone in our journey towards a sustainable future.

It would be easy peezy to place this responsibility solely on the big global player. We can all be active and effective on an individual level. And this is where PLAN3T comes into play. With four simple steps, we help you to make your everyday life more sustainable. Bit by bit.

01 - Learning
First, we need to learn about our own impact and understand that everything we do has direct and indirect consequences. For the climate, for humanity, for the PLAN3T. By calculating our individual carbon footprint, we can dive into the details to see which behaviors carry which impact. In particular, the areas of housing, food, energy, mobility and transportation, consumption need to be examined more closely.

02 - Implement + Reduce
Once this first status check is done, we can get down to the nitty-gritty. Don't worry, this sounds more dramatic than it is. Ultimately, it simply means looking at where exactly we can change our behavior step by step. Free from guilt and finger-pointing. Yes, in the beginning, this also means leaving our own comfort zone. But who says we can't build a new one? One that feels just as good and at the same time protects the climate and our PLAN3T. One that we design together. With the PLAN3T app, we'll help you with lots of sustainability tips and challenges.

03 - Offset
Offsetting your own CO₂ emissions should always be the last resort. We also know that it will not be possible to drastically reduce our CO₂ emissions from one day to the next. That's why we can compensate for all that remains. This will not reduce our emissions, but at least it will allow good projects that cover a range of the SDGs to grow and flourish.

04 - Get rewarded
And this is where the fun part comes in. We firmly believe that saving the climate can be fun. Actually, it must be. And because we're no fans of empty words, we'll show you. With our exclusive network of sustainable brands that rewards you for every good deed. Because: every sustainable behavior in everyday life should be encouraged.

Well, that was a lot of input for now. Let it sink in for a while. Until then, stay healthy and remember: together we can do this.