File:ENGINEERING FOR SUSTAINABILITY.pdf

English: Engineering, science and technology function as the engine of economic development, and provide an inexhaustible source for the progress of human civilization. Engineering has a central role in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations in 2015, which set forth 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that constitute a global action plan for addressing development problems. Engineering underpins all the 17 SDGs and plays an instrumental role in sustainable development. We believe that the publication of the 2020 UNESCO Engineering Report, Engineering for Sustainable Development: Delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals, will contribute to sustainable development and the global development of engineering for the future.Engineering is experiencing a moment of profound transformation and is facing immense challenges. As a discipline, it is expanding rapidly beyond the creation of artefact-based solutions to permeate economic, ecological and social systems. This evolution is taking place within a broader context in which the timeframe for new discoveries, new technologies, new materials and new products is becoming increasingly short. Meanwhile, the challenges facing engineering, including those encapsulated in the SDGs, are becoming ever more complex and often require multi-disciplinary, cross-country and inter-cultural solutions. Such transboundary solutions have played an invaluable role in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic.