The UN has just released its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – when I saw there were 17 of them, my immediate thought was “how do you prioritise any of that?” Then I saw each goal was broken down into about 5-8 sub objectives and you end up with  somewhere in the the region of 150 objectives. Where to start? Can anybody actually recite all 17 off the top of their heads?

By comparison, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for 2015 numbered just eight with fewer sub-objectives. Just having glanced at them, I can remember a couple as I’m not overwhelmed with detail.

When I’m developing sustainability strategies with my clients (note: with, not for) I usually recommend 5-7 top level goals as we can get our heads around that number – and remember them. It is always better to make breakthrough progress on the 5 biggest issues than incremental progress on 100.