SDGs and Noise Pollution in Their Development Challenges #PBL

Listen, Reflect, Transform: Noise Awareness in Our World

SDGs and Noise Pollution in Their Development Challenges

Noise pollution significantly hinders the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by impacting health (SDG 3), reducing quality of life in sustainable cities (SDG 11), affecting ecosystems (SDGs 14, 15), and increasing inequality (SDG 10)

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by 193 countries in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, set out a shared roadmap to tackle humanity’s most pressing challenges. Designed as an indivisible and interconnected framework, the SDGs aim to drive action over 15 years in areas vital to people and the planet. Within this context, environmental noise—closely linked to economic, environmental and social harm—can be seen as relevant to several SDG targets.

Once brushed aside as an unavoidable nuisance, environmental noise is now recognised as a significant public health issue. Scientific evidence has firmly connected excessive noise exposure to problems such as sleep disturbance, cardiovascular disease, annoyance and impaired children’s cognitive development, as well as broader psychological and physical harm. Supported by proactive legislation, particularly in the European Union, this former “forgotten pollutant” is finally getting its moment in the spotlight. The World Health Organization estimates that noise causes the loss of at least one million healthy life-years annually in Western Europe, with road and rail noise alone costing the EU around €40 billion each year—a high price for something we once tried not to hear.

Noise pollution, though often overlooked in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework, significantly impacts multiple goals, especially SDG 3 (Good Health & Well-being) by causing stress, sleep loss, and disease; SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities) by hindering inclusive urban planning; and SDGs 14 & 15 (Life Below Water/On Land) by disrupting ecosystems and wildlife. Addressing noise through sustainable urban design, green spaces, and better transport (like electric mobility) offers co-benefits, reducing inequality (SDG 10) and improving peace (SDG 16) while achieving climate goals (SDG 7, 13). 

Noise is an issue cross-cutting through all of the SDGs. In the environmental noise field, sound is often conceived as a waste product and, as with all wastes, sound is to be reduced and managed.

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

1. What are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
2. In what year were the SDGs adopted?
3. How many countries agreed to the SDGs?
4. What is the official name of the SDGs plan?
5. Why are the SDGs described as an “indivisible whole”?
6. What problem is environmental noise connected to in the text?
7. Why was environmental noise ignored in the past?
8. What health problems can noise cause according to the text?
9. Which organisation estimates the health impact of noise in Western Europe?
10. How much does road and rail noise cost the European Union each year?
11. What type of pollution is the text mainly about?
12. Which SDG is linked to health and well-being?
13. How can noise pollution affect people’s health?
14. Which SDG is connected to cities and urban planning?
15. How does noise pollution affect animals and ecosystems?
16. What solutions are mentioned to reduce noise pollution?
17. How can green spaces help with noise pollution?
18. Which SDG is related to reducing inequality?
19. Why is noise described as a “cross-cutting” issue?
20. How is sound described in the environmental noise field?

The lesson in action