Do you want to get a better understanding of the complexity of sustainable development and the different aspects of the SDGs?
The SDG Impact Assessment Tool is freely available online.
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This is a free online tool for learning and strategic decision-support that visualises the results from a self-assessment of how an activity, organisation or innovation affects the SDGs. It aims to stimulate the user to get a better understanding of the complexity of sustainable development and the different aspects of the SDGs. In the end you will be better equipped to prioritise actions ahead.
I recommend the SDG Impact Assessment Tool for evaluating how your city, organisation or project affect the SDGs, which I have applied for my work.
Tove Holm, Coordinator for the Baltic Sea Challenge at the City of Turku and the City of Helsinki
The 17 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development apply to us all and aims to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind. We all have the responsibility to move forward in a sustainable way.
This tool is for anyone in society who wants to know how an activity, organisation or innovation affects the SDGs and get insights to take strategic action forward. Continue down for user scenarios.
This guide presents the tool and the steps of an SDG impact assessment. For your inspiration and guidance, some user examples and applications of the tool are described.
SDG Impact Assessment Tool – Guide 1.0
Download our Q&A with frequently asked questions and answers:
5 Steps method
The SDG Impact Assessment tool provides an interactive learning process on how to reflect holistically about potential effects on the SDGs to avoid lock-ins, sub-optimisations and other pitfalls when it comes to sustainability.
Visual result
When you have gone through the first four steps of the impact assessment, you will get a visualization of your assessment. Based on this visualization, and the knowledge you have acquired by assessing all the sustainable development goals, choose your strategies forward!
The tool is excellent in teaching! Why not let students/pupils make an assessment as a project? Or, you can evaluate a course to see if all aspects of the sustainable development goals are covered. If you assess a whole program, it can be used to show potential students what aspects the program covers.
In research, the potential use of the tool is wide. Use the tool to gain a holistic perspective of your research area. Perhaps you will find areas where you can make strategic choices in order to strengthen your positive impact areas and mitigate the negative impact areas. In applications for funding, make an assessment of your proposed project to visualize the sustainability potential.
If you want to influence the SDG content in a course or program, use this tool to visualize your view to teachers and/or program responsibles.
Identify risks and opportunities related to the SDGs across your entire value chain. Set goals and targets specific to your company that align with sustainable development. Tell shareholders and other stakeholders the goals your company has set to contribute to the SDGs and progress made. Engage all your employees in advancing the Goals through their own work and distribute responsibilities across the entire organization for achieving progress. Show your commitment.
Global Goals and Business
Identify and disseminate good examples. Get a greater coherence among municipalities, county councils and regions. Use the tool to educate and engage around Agenda 2030.
Will you be leading an impact assessment workshop? Prepare yourself! Make sure you have a clear definition of the purpose of your impact assessment. Do you have all the relevant competencies available to achieve that purpose? Read through the sustainable development goals and their targets – can you identify goals you need to spend more time discussing during the workshop, or goals that are not that relevant in your context? Prepare your workshop time distribution accordingly. Don’t spend too much time on each goal. See it as an ongoing process where you continue to develop each time you do an assessment.
The SDG Impact Assessment Tool was developed by Gothenburg Centre for Sustainable Development, at Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg, in collaboration with SDSN Northern Europe and Mistra Carbon Exit, and with financial support from Region Västra Götaland through the Maritime Cluster of West Sweden.
