“The question behind the title of the 2018 Lavazza calendar is direct and deliberately provocative. What are you doing? All of us, citizens, companies, political and social institutions, are called upon to respond and commit to make a difference. The UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals are the way to go to protect the planet, but 2030 is ever closer and activating a virtuous thrust in all of us is more urgent that ever - says Francesca Lavazza, member of the Company’s Board of Directors -. That is why we have decided to support the UN’s 17 SDGs and to interpret them for the first time in an artistic way thanks to Platon, a master of contemporary photography. We want to popularize this universal commitment for 2030, to disseminate and make these issues and their protagonists known; this is the only way to turn people, young people in particular, into the real game changers of the future. We want to be the founders of a positive revolution, inspire and awaken common sense, for us to be ambassadors of the change we want to see in the world”.
The true inspiration behind the Lavazza calendar “2030 What Are you Doing” is Jeffrey Sachs. Professor at Columbia University and Special Advisor to UN Secretary-General António Guterres on the Sustainable Development Goals, Sachs is one of the sustainability ambassadors portrayed by Platon, interpreting, along with his wife Sonia, Goal number 17: Partnership for objectives. “All 193 Member States of the United Nations - says Sachs - adopted the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, to steer the world away from the growing dangers of environmental destruction and towards a future that could be one of prosperity, health, education and peace. Now, after 2 years, we are still far from reaching these 17 Goals, which are certainly ambitious, but achievable by 2030: the key is global cooperation, a key principle that affects all of us, not only governments, but also individuals, companies, universities and other players in civil society. The Lavazza Calendar celebrates this global commitment and reminds us all of what is at stake. My hope, and my belief, is that it can inspire many others to embrace the cause of sustainable development”.