The Sustainable Development Goals and the Importance of Cultural Change

Abstract

Sustainable development is an ambition rather than a reality. Profound changes will be needed to achieve it in ways of producing and consuming. These will only happen at scale if societies undergo major cultural changes, including placing greater value on undervalued natural assets and internalizing in individual decisions the costs they impose on the environment, including the climate system. For these changes to occur, societies need to become more equitable, ensuring that all members enjoy decent living standards and are thus willing and able to attach greater weight to the well-being of future