We are the UK Government’s independent adviser on sustainable development. Through advocacy, advice and
appraisal, we help put sustainable development at the heart of Government policy
Support and Advice
Alongside our work in scrutinising Government's performance on sustainable development, the SDC provides advice on crucial policy areas, and works with departments to help apply the principles of sustainable development to all aspects of their business. More information on both of these roles is outlined below.
Support for Government
In its support work with Government, the SDC aims to build departments' organisational capacity for sustainable development. This means:
- Providing support and assistance to help departments apply the principles of sustainable development in a practical way to the problems that they face
- Helping departments to build the attitudes, knowledge, skills and resources to put sustainable development into practice through their policies and work programmes
- Helping departments to bring about long-term organisational change towards sustainability.
We do this in a number of ways, from department-specific capability building seminars, to the long-term embedding of SDC staff in departments . Our role as an independent adviser has also allowed us to convene discussions on key policy and operational issues across departments, through our Cross-Government Sustainable Development Network.
» Case Study: Our work with DCSF