With their EHUagenda 2030 for sustainable development the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) has provided a blueprint to bring their work in line with the SDGs and to find sustainable environmental, social and economic solutions to global problems. Over the last three years the university's scientific contribution to the SDGs has increased hugely.
Universities have a vital role to play in addressing the planet’s biggest challenges and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this sense, the EHUagenda 2030 for sustainable development (2019-2025) has provided a blueprint to bring the work of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in line with the SDGs and to find sustainable environmental, social and economic solutions to global problems. The EHUagenda describes UPV/EHU's contribution to 12 of the Agenda 2030's 17 SDGs, with the addition of its own commitment to linguistic and cultural diversity in SDG 17+1; the sectoral plans this comprises (Campus Equality, Campus Inclusion and Campus Planet) and the refocus of its education model IKD i3.
Apart from monitoring UPV/EHU's achievements through a panel of 58 indicators, recently the contribution of the scientific production of the UPV/EHU to these 12+1 SDGs in the last three years (2017, 2018 and 2019) has been analyzed. This scientific production, which includes academic papers from Web of Science and Scopus databases, shows the high quality and commitment to sustainability of research groups. Altogether, from 2017 until now, UPV/EHU accumulates 838 publications that contribute to the SDGs and the production has increased considerably in the last year: from 242 and 250 in 2017 and 2018, respectively, to 346 in 2019 (nearly 100 publications more). This increase is especially noteworthy in SDG 3 (Good health and well-being), SDG 11 (Sustainable cities and communities), SDG12 (Responsible production and consumption) and SDG 16 (Peace, justice and strong institutions), with an increase of more than 35% in all cases. Similarly, the SDGs with the highest number of papers are SDG 3, SDG 7 and SDG 13 (Climate action).
Contributions to each SDG from different programs and actions can be found at: https://www.ehu.eus/en/web/iraunkortasuna/ehuagenda-2030/ekarpenak-eta-ekintzak