Role of Physics in Sustainable Development

Sustainable development is nowadays core of upcoming national policies and development plans of many countries. There are in total 17 global sustainable development goals (SDGs) and 169 targets as proposed by the United Nations General Assembly. In March 2016, a set of 230 indicators was approved with general consent. The solution to these issues requires an integration between science and technology. Physics, which is the most basic of sciences, can be integrated with information technology as well as engineering to develop solution to goals like climate change, water and sanitation, renewable energy, food, health, etc. This chapter presents a brief review on the role of physics knowledge in achieving various sustainable development goals.