Why noise control must be considered in the context of sustainable development

Paper in proceeding, 2022

The United Nations 2030 Agenda for sustainable development comprises 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of interlinked social, environmental and economic dimensions. Since noise and noise control are not directly apparent in any of the goals, Dr. Eoin King from the NUI Galway, presented an article at the Internoise 2021 conference with the objective of sparking “a debate about how noise might be further considered in the context of sustainable development”. Inspired by Dr. King's article, this paper presents examples from the planning of two new railroad lines in Sweden, where the Swedish Transport Administration has based the goals of the projects on the 2030 Agenda. Different SDGs have been applicable for different aspects of the projects. For traffic noise the SDG nr 3 - Good Health and Well-being, and nr 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities, are considered the most relevant. The reasoning and the method to integrate the SDGs in the railroad projects are described and discussed in this paper. The author also emphasizes the importance of including noise in the SDGs for infrastructure projects, by expressing why noise control must be considered in the context of sustainable development, especially from the viewpoint of the 10th SDG - Reduced Inequality.