The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are 17 globally recognised ambitions to progress sustainable development and track performance.
A central pillar of the SDGs is to ‘leave no one behind’ through global support to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.
The City of Melbourne has taken the lead and is the first Council in Australia to conduct a SDG Voluntary Local Review (VLR) on the city’s progress towards the Goals. The SDGs are a guiding framework for Council to ensure our initiatives achieve holistic sustainable development. We extend an open invitation to all stakeholders, including industry, businesses, service providers, community organizations, fellow local government agencies, residents, and students, to actively engage in collaborative efforts aimed at achieving the SDGs and creating a brighter future for all.
On this page you can:
- Learn about the SDG goals and City of Melbourne's targets for each goal
- View what Council, business and community are doing to achieve each goal
- Interact with live data on how Melbourne is performing against each target
- Discover Council's SDG journey so far, including previous community consultation
- Be inspired how individuals and businesses can take action because everyone has a role to play
- Learn how to drive long-term growth, reduce costs by signing up to the SDG Align toolkit, a purpose-built digital platform to help businesses understand their sustainability impacts, implement changes and commit to action
- Sign up to receive updates and be notified of events by following this page
Sustainable Development Goals and targets at a glance
Click on the dots for an overview of City of Melbourne's targets for each goal.

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Let's dive deeper
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Live data on how Melbourne is performing
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What businesses can do
What individuals can do
City of Melbourne's Sustainable Development Goal journey
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Timeline item 1 - complete
Future Melbourne Committee – endorsement of City of Melbourne’s draft Voluntary Local Review (VLR) sought
15 March 2022
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Timeline item 2 - complete
Community consultation
16 March to 20 April 2022
Read the consultation summary
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Timeline item 3 - complete
Future Melbourne Committee - Participate Melbourne insights provided, final VLR endorsed
14 June 2022
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Timeline item 4 - complete
City of Melbourne’s first VLR shared internationally to the United Nations High Level Political Forum
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Timeline item 5 - complete
SDG Align Toolkit launch to help businesses to measure, track, and accelerate their sustainability impact across the Sustainable Development Goals
27 August 2025
Sign up here -
Timeline item 6 - active
Embedded SDGs in Council business and operations, and supporting our community and stakeholders to take action towards the goals
Ongoing
Frequently asked questions
News