Accelerating the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through metrological multi-stakeholder interoperability

The timeline for the fulfilment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) diverse stakeholder interests can be accelerated many times over by creating incentives and rewards aligning individual and corporate self-interests with the greater good. The SDGs have been criticized for setting out ambitious goals with no accountability or enforcement mechanisms and little in the way of incentives or rewards past recognition for contributing to a better future. There is then an urgent and increasing need for quality assured sustainability and economic measurements capable of efficiently coordinating and aligning decision-making across investors, financial markets and governments, the private and public sectors, and institutions. Metrology is key to making the 17 UN SDGs measureable and manageable collectively by individuals globally, in accordance with the 169 targets. This massive global effort will require aligning metrological unit standards for the sustainability targets with financial values and economic key ratios, legally binding property (material and immaterial) rights, accounting standards, management practices incorporating new performance indicators and new standards in sustainable economic models. Just as the profit motive and individual and corporate priorities worked to create a new middle class over the last 200 years, so might they also be harnessed and channelled to create universally accessible opportunities for new ways of generating both financial and authentic wealth. The bottom line is that we liberate the power of common targets, language, and understanding with sustainable categorical standards to support adaptations to local situations in the context of traceability to universal standards.