Climate action is shared work. It belongs to governments, large corporations, non-profits of every s…
From Global Goals to Local Action: Advancing Climate Action Through the Sustainable Development Goals
by Zahra Esmail, CEO at Vantage Point
We are living in a time when commitments to climate action and social inequality are being challenged and, in some cases, rolled back. The energy behind the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by every United Nations Member State in 2015, is beginning to fade in some spaces. In turn, the goals themselves can feel less urgent than they did a decade ago.
This is exactly the moment for civil society to step forward.
Non-profits are one of the primary ways these goals move from aspiration to action. Rooted in community, building trust over decades, and stepping into gaps that neither government nor the private sector can fill, non-profits play a critical role in translating global goals into local reality.
At Vantage Point, as an organization that serves and connects non-profits across BC, we are deeply committed to that work. The SDGs are not abstract to us. They reflect what our community is already doing every day.
This moment calls for greater visibility and renewed energy around these commitments. We are ready to do our part and to bring our community along with us.
At the same time, we’ll be honest. Until recently, we had not fully reckoned with what this means in practice for our own organization.
Our Learning Journey
When we embedded climate action into our current strategic plan, A Stronger, Brighter Future, we made our commitment tangible in three ways:
- Strengthening our own internal climate action initiatives
- Advancing more equitable and inclusive systems and practices for non-profits across BC
- Delivering education programs that are accessible and grounded in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI)
That commitment, in turn, sharpened our focus on the Sustainable Development Goals.
Building on this, our Board of Directors, who championed the climate commitment in our strategic plan, established a Climate Change Committee to take this work further. In partnership with senior staff, the Committee reviewed all 17 SDGs and identified where Vantage Point is meaningfully positioned to contribute and to be accountable.
We landed on eight priority goals:
You will notice Climate Action on that list not as a standalone effort, but woven throughout our work. These goals are interconnected by design. Reduced inequalities and climate action are not parallel paths; they are deeply linked. The communities most impacted by climate change are the same communities facing systemic inequities. And the non-profits doing the hardest work are often addressing both at once.
What Comes Next
For each of these eight goals, we have identified specific actions we will track and measure. Beginning with our next annual report, you will see SDG icons integrated throughout. These markers will highlight where our work connects to the broader global framework and will hold us accountable to showing up in those areas in a meaningful way.
Climate Action is Shared Work
We are also inviting our entire community to join us in this work. If you are a non-profit in BC, you are likely already contributing to these goals in ways both big and small.
Climate action is shared work. It belongs to governments, large corporations, non-profits of every size, and each of us as individuals within our communities.
By building our understanding of the SDGs, we strengthen our role as a sector that leads by example.
Together, we can make a meaningful difference.
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If you have questions or feedback on Vantage Point’s work related to climate action and the SDGs, please contact our CEO, Zahra Esmail, at zesmail at thevantagepoint.ca.
Stay tuned for our upcoming blog post highlighting our progress on SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth.
