17 Days, 17 Goals: Goal 9 - Industry
Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
- Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation -
This post is part of our blog series: 17 Days, 17 Goals. The blog series features foundations working on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals leading up to the first anniversary of the SDGs. The Council on Foundations Sustainable Development Goals & Philanthropy initiative is in partnership with the United Nations Foundation and SDG Philanthropy Platform. Find us on social media with #PhilSDGs.
Why do we need Goal 9?
- Basic infrastructure like roads, information and communication technologies, sanitation, electrical power, and water remains scarce in many developing countries
- About 2.6 billion people in the developing world are facing difficulty in accessing electricity full time
- Undeveloped infrastructure limits access to health care and education
- Every one job in manufacturing creates 2.2 jobs in other sectors
- The American Society of Civil Engineers gives the US a D+ on its infrastructure and estimates $3.6 trillion is needed by 2020 to get it to where it needs to be
What are some of the targets?
- Develop quality, reliable, sustainable, and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all
- Upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes
- Significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the internet in least developed countries by 2020
Featured: Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation, as part of its larger efforts to improve the resilience and vitality of cities, funds with a clear focus on transportation and infrastructure. The Rockefeller Foundation’s transportation work aims to encourage economic growth and improve quality of life by helping communities to make better investments in modern, efficient, and effective transit solutions.
Transportation is the second highest cost for working Americans, and the highest cost for Americans who earn $20,000-$50,000 per year. When The Rockefeller Foundation began its Transportation initiative in 2008, this was the problem they aimed to address. The national conversation around transportation solutions was in many ways focused on building wider roads and more highways. The Foundation wanted to shift the conversation towards a more sustainable and equitable U.S. transportation system to provide all Americans, especially the poor and vulnerable, commuting and transportation solutions that more easily connect them to jobs, better allowing them to provide for their families.
In order to work on issues like commuting, their initiative to bring bus rapid transit to American cities is working to establish a rapid transit system that is cheaper and quicker to build than subways in cities like Chicago, New York, Boston, Nashville, and Pittsburgh.
The Foundation also published an e-book in 2015 about the Future of Transportation. Over 9 months, CityLab explored the initiatives and technologies being developed right now that will change the way people travel around cities in the years to come, across the United States.
Please read more about the amazing work of our member:
Rockefeller Transportation & Infrastructure
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