Madinah Attains Gold Certification in Sustainable Development Program

Madinah just became the first city in the Arab region, and the third city in the world, to complete the second phase of the international requirements of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Cities program. This achievement highlights the city of Madinah’s commitment to inclusive, sustainable growth.

The SDG Program is an initiative by the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat) that aims to incentivise and reward cities that put the UN’s sustainable development goals into action. These 17 goals range include achieving zero hunger, providing quality education, attaining gender equality and making clean energy affordable, among others.

To obtain this certification, cities must first undertake a baseline assessment of its sustainability, which is then used to craft a plan that demonstrates principles of social inclusion and balances economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. This plan is then incorporated into the city’s larger vision for its future. To achieve their Gold Certification, Madinah was able to demonstrate the alignment of their human-centered smart city strategy with the UN’s sustainable development goals.

It is far from the end of Madinah’s journey with the SDG city program, however. There are two more certifications in this initiative, the Platinum Certificate and the Diamond Certificate, which are awarded when the points of the plan crafted to obtain Gold Certification are demonstrably put into practice. Madinah’s Vision 2030 provides a roadmap to achieve these goals by the end of the decade.