SDG 8: Economic growth and employment

In underdeveloped country the financing and opportunity for entrepreneurship is very hard. The regional areas where the reach of bank is hard to get and people seeks opportunity to transact money in a easy manner. Mobile banking and fintech could be one way to solve this problem. My idea is to make this steps easy and convenient for those people.

I would like to see more pet-friendly public places like restaurants, gardens in China. Every pet would be taking good care of and no more stray animals

My One Step pledge is to adopt impact investing so that my investment approach is done through an ESG/SDG lens. Initially, when I began my investment journey, I invested with only aspirations of maximising monetary gains, setting aside or placing less emphasis on, the social and environmental impacts offrom the business operations. Whilst financial gain is still a key objective of my portfolio actions, it is now imperative to me that I invest in companies which value transparency and have transition plans that are aligned with the SDGs. I do this because I recognise the importance and influence that multinational cooperation’s play in this fight against social injustice and climate change. If we continue to financially support the types of businesses who are not adopting ESG principles and are not aligned to the SDG’s, it only reinforces harmful behaviour which further exacerbates our deteriorating global situation. The investments I make now and into the future will be for positive environmental, social and climate impact enabling me to participate in transitioning to a sustainable future.

Having adopted sustainable habits throughout the past couple of years and becoming more aware of the carbon footprint of my everyday activities, my next step is to speak up and use my voice to influence systemic change. I have often had moments of intention to advocate for climate action and more sustainable government policy, but have always been uncertain of where to start. While the right to physically gather to protest has been put on hold during the pandemic, I know there are other ways we can use our voices to influence change. Carbon emissions have been reduced slightly due to travel bans this year, however, this is a temporary change. [1] It is well reported that effective pandemic recovery must include strong climate action from our governments at all levels. [2] So I plan to use my voice and unite with others to influence meaningful change on sustainable development issues. [1] https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/04/1061082 [2] https://blogs.worldbank.org/climatechange/how-countries-climate-ambitions-can-support-sustainable-recovery-covid-19-coronavirus Photo: Tiff Ng, sourced from Canva

Political or individual polarisation is a major factor in reducing the flexibility and responsivity of groups/companies/governments. This reduces the pace of progress and can halt action completely in many points of contention. Promoting regular conversion and collaboration across natural group of people can increase the diversity of views and reduce polarisation (particularly extreme polarisations). I aim to personally listen to those who I do not agree with and to find people who I would not normally talk to, while encouraging others to do the same.

Buy products from organisations that send profits to positive projects in 3rd world countries. Particularly those focussing on women's education.

Who has not made a trip to a nearby community or travelled to a country other than their residence? Tourism is an industry that is continuously growing, according to the United Nations, World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) prognosticated growth of 3% to 4% for 2020 (before the pandemic) and predicted the number of international tourist arrivals by 2030 would reach 1.8 million. I understand that many people see tourism as an unsustainable activity. However, I support the fact that tourism has helped to improve the quality of life of many communities (Decent work and community growth). As a traveller conscious of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), I have taken multiple steps such as reusing towels in the hotel that I stay, travelling by train or car when I can and sharing the car with friends to avoid the use of another car (climate actions), supporting the local community buying from small businesses (Decent work and community growth) and protecting the biodiversity of the natural places I visit (Life on land), for instance. My idea is to be able to share the message and knowledge with as many travellers as possible so that they become actors of change. To do so, as a sustainable tourism student, I could start creating a network where we can share tips for travellers to spread awareness in the context of travel in a sustainable manner. I would be an incentive for travellers to take wise decisions and making them part of the community who support the SDG.

Using and selling reusable shopping bag for shopping to solve plastic bag pollution and support equality education for orphans.

My step towards living sustainably is to save energy while performing all my day to day activities. By doing small steps like putting on a sweater and turning the thermostat down on a cold evening, turning off appliances like bulbs and computers off when they are not in use. Small steps starting at home can help make an impact around oneself. I pledge to take small steps to save energy around me and make other people around me practice the same.

I vow to eat seasonal produce that is locally sourced. Through this step, I hope to consume food the way nature intended but to also support local farmers and food industries where possible. I will be sourcing all of my fresh produce from local farmer's markets for the next year.