A Background History of the Sustainable Development Goals

ABSTRACT While the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have become a prominent guideline in the developmental course of the planet, it is important to study the history of these goals to gain an in‐depth understanding of the concept of sustainability underlying them. Although some studies have been conducted on the history of the SDGs, this paper aims to provide a different and creative overview of their evolution. Moreover, the current research depicts the growth in the notion of development and sustainability over the past few decades. The conclusions hint at the possible future evolution of the history towards a post‐growth era. The findings were reached by conducting a literature review of related scholarly works and the UN's published documents. The study divides the narrated history of Sustainable Development thinking into six stages: sprouting, seedling, vegetative, budding, flowering and ripening. Thus, this paper describes how the concept of development got evolved from ‘development with assistance’ to a sustainable development that comprises four pillars: environment, society, economy and governance, and how it tends to evolve further.