2.3.2 Young people’s visions of a sustainable future
Each of the Sustainable Development Goals has a list of targets whose achievement is measured using indicators. There are 169 targets in all, with 243 indicators. The contributions that young people can make to a sustainable society are recognized in youth- specific targets, particularly those associated with Goals 4 (quality education), 8 (decent work and economic growth) and 13 (climate action).
Since the world’s youth are a driving force for a sustainable future (Ban 2016; Hwang and Kim 2019; UNEP 2019b), we wanted to understand their ideas, perceptions and visions. However, only about 65 per cent of those who responded to the GEO-6 for Youth Survey had heard of the SDGs (see Annex 1). If young people’s awareness of the SDGs improved, there would be more engagement to work towards a sustainable future.