Saudi green building leader: Cities key to meeting UN sustainable development goals by 2030
NEW YORK: At the UN’s annual High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, Faisal AlFadl, secretary-general of the Saudi Green Building Forum, argued that sustainable development goal 11 on sustainable cities is uniquely positioned to accelerate progress across the entire 2030 Agenda because, unlike the other 16 goals, it is grounded in physical space where people actually live.
“Goal 11, because it’s a geo space, is the only SDG that is spatial,” AlFadl told Arab News.
“If you get it done, it’s immediately affecting the other 17, because you affect hunger, water, energy — everything a citizen deals with in his daily life.”
Speaking at UN headquarters on Thursday during a session on SDG 11 and its interlinkages with other goals, AlFadl told delegates that cities functioned as an “integration platform” where a single investment could simultaneously advance water, energy, infrastructure, climate resilience and economic opportunity.
