As a High School or Undergraduate Economics or Social Sciences teacher, you can use this lesson plan to teach about the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as outlined by the United Nations for nations to adopt and work towards, for a sustainable future.
This lesson plan will allow you to introduce the SDGs to your students, stress on their socio-economicimportance and enable discussions on the efforts taken by governmental and non-governmental agencies of their nations towards achieving these goals. This lesson plan will also draw attention to how climate change may affect the efforts towards achieving the SDGs.
Thus, the use of this lesson plan allows you to integrate the teaching of a climate science topic with a core topic in Economics or Social Sciences.
Questions
Use this lesson plan to help your students find answers to:
What are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
What are your nation’s efforts towards meeting the SDGs?
How is climate change intricately linked with sustainable development and the achievement of the SDGs?
SDG Dashboard
About Lesson Plan
Grade Level
High school, Undergraduate
Discipline
Economics, Social Sciences
Topic(s) in Discipline
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Sustainability
Development Economics, Urban Economics
Environmental Economics, Inclusive Society
Inequality, Societal Resilience, Poverty
Well Being, Justice, Gender Equality, and Climate Action
Climate Topic
Policies, Politics and Environmental Governance
Energy, Economics and Climate Change
Climate Mitigation and Adaptation
Location
Global
Language(s)
English, A tool also available in French, German and Spanish
Access
Online, Offline
Approximate Time Required
50 – 60 min
Contents
Video
(~2 min)
A video to introduce sustainable development and the UN defined Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
A summary of an IPCC report on global warming and a list of classroom tasks to emphasize the link between climate change and sustainable development. This reading is also available in French, German and Spanish.
Here is a step-by-step guide to using this lesson plan in the classroom/laboratory. We have suggested these steps as a possible plan of action. You may customize the lesson plan according to your preferences and requirements.
Step 1: Topic introduction and discussion
Use the video, ‘What is sustainable development?’ by the United Nations (UN) to describe to your students, what sustainable development is and to define the different sustainable development goals (SDGs) as outlined by the UN.
Step 3: Emphasize the link between climate change and the achievement of the SDGs
Use the reading, ‘IPCC Special Report: Global Warming of 1.50 Summary for Teachers’ (pages 20-21) by Office for Climate Education (OCE), France, to explain to your students the link between global warming and attaining the SDGs. This reading is also available in French, German and Spanish.
Use the text to discuss with your students the relationship between population, economic growth and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Explain to your students climate change exacerbates poverty and in turn, a higher rate of population growth and the associated inequalities contribute greatly to global warming through increased GHG emissions.
Use the text to emphasize to your students that climate change can be detrimental for sustainable development, especially in developing countries and vulnerable regions.
Therefore, discuss how SDGs must be addressed in conjunction with the efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Finally, use the list of tasks on page 21, to encourage your students to discuss their country’s efforts towards addressing the SDGs in the context of climate change.
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