Sustainability: Global Environment Overview

UN office dedicated to achieving environmental sustainability with digital technology.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a call for action by all countries - poor, rich and middle-income - to promote prosperity while protecting the environment. They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs including education, health, equality and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and working to preserve our ocean and forests.

The EDF works on urgent environmental challenges by targeting issues such as climate, oceans, ecosystems, and health.

Environmental Defense Fund's mission is to preserve the natural systems on which all life depends. Guided by science and economics, they find practical and lasting solutions to the most serious environmental problems.

These UN Environmental Indicators disseminate global environment statistics on ten indicator themes compiled from a wide range of data sources. The themes and indicator tables were selected based on the current demands for international environmental statistics and the availability of internationally comparable data.

The Environment Statistics Section of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) is engaged in the development of methodology, data collection, capacity development, and coordination in the fields of environmental statistics and indicators.

The GCSE mission is to improve the scientific basis of environmental policy- and decision-making. GCSE specializes in programs that foster collaboration between the diverse institutions and individuals creating and using environmental knowledge including research, education, environmental, and business organizations.

The World Bank's GFDRR is a global partnership that helps developing countries better understand and reduce their vulnerability to natural hazards and climate change.

Global Green is the American Affiliate of Green Cross International. GCI is an environmentalist organisation whose primary mission is to "respond to the combined challenges of security, poverty and environmental degradation to ensure a sustainable and secure future". Its primary initiatives are preventing and resolving conflicts over natural resources; addressing environmental consequences of wars, conflicts and man-made calamities; and actively work for sustainability and prevent climate change.

The UNEP is the leading global environmental authority of the UN system, with a mandate to provide guidance to its member states on environmental issues; and general policy guidance for the direction and co-ordination of environmental programmes within the UN system.

The World Bank Group’s overarching mission is a world free of poverty. Our aim is to ensure that progress benefits the poor and does not come at the expense of future generations. This link provides access to their environmental resources.

(WRI) is a global research organization that focuses on seven urgent global challenges that must be addressed to reduce poverty, grow economies and protect natural systems: climate, energy, food, forest, water, cities, and oceans.

Find environmental topics sources from the EPA. Sources include EPA articles, news releases, and statistics on topics such as environmental justice, climate change, sustainability, and greener living.

This EPA site has many tools to help you learn and understand greener living issues and help you reduce your environmental footprint.

EEA seeks to protect, preserve, and enhance the Commonwealth’s environmental resources while ensuring a clean energy future for the state’s residents.

A list of each state's health and environmental agencies.

The EPA home page for their sustainability methods, tools, guidance and programs that sup​port the application of sustainability within decision-making.

This site from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) a designed to help people find and use tools, information, and subject matter expertise to build climate resilience. The goal is to improve people’s ability to understand and manage their climate-related risks and opportunities, and to help them make their communities and businesses more resilient to extreme events.