This essay is an academic consideration and does not represent official SDGs positions.
1. What Are the SDGs?
Adopted by the United Nations in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) establish 17 goals and 169 targets to be achieved by 2030.
17 Goals
No poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water, clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry and innovation, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace and justice, partnerships—these interconnect to pursue a sustainable world.
"Leave No One Behind"
The core principle of the SDGs is "Leave No One Behind." Development benefits reaching everyone. A society where marginalized and vulnerable people can live with dignity.
The Blind Spot of Records
However, in SDGs discussions, the perspective of "record sustainability" is insufficiently addressed. Without records, existence cannot be proven. Without proof of existence, services cannot be accessed. The issue of records is a foundational challenge affecting all SDG goals.
2. The Problem of Record Sustainability
Modern record-keeping systems are hardly sustainable.
Short Lifespan of Digital Records
The lifespan of digital data is surprisingly short. Hard drives last 5-10 years, SSDs about 10 years, and cloud services depend on corporate survival. Format obsolescence is also a problem. File formats from 20 years ago may not be openable today.
Maintenance Cost Issues
Maintaining digital records requires ongoing costs. Server fees, electricity, personnel management, security measures—few entities can bear these costs perpetually. Companies go bankrupt, organizations dissolve, even nations transform.
Access Disparities
Accessing digital records requires electricity, internet, devices, and literacy. Those without these are excluded from digital society. The principle of "Leave No One Behind" contradicts a record system focused solely on digitization.
Modern record systems are short-lived, expensive to maintain, and create access disparities. This is incompatible with SDGs principles.
3. SDG Goal 11 — Sustainable Cities and Communities
Goal 11 aims to "Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable."
Target 11.4
Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world's cultural and natural heritage.
Records as Cultural Heritage
Family histories, community memories, community stories—these are cultural heritage. Yet in many cases, these are not systematically preserved. With individual deaths, family dispersal, and community depopulation, records are lost.
Disasters and Resilience
During disasters, records are easily lost. Fires, floods, earthquakes—both physical records and local digital records are vulnerable to disasters. Family registers, property registrations, medical records—when these are lost, people struggle with proof of existence.
TokiStorage's Contribution
Quartz glass is fire-resistant (heat-resistant to over 1000°C), water-resistant, and doesn't degrade over time. Distributed storage reduces the risk of total loss from disasters. It can contribute to Goal 11 in both cultural heritage preservation and disaster resilience.
4. SDG Goal 12 — Responsible Consumption and Production
Goal 12 aims to "Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns."
Target 12.5
By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.
Digital Device Disposal Problem
Maintaining digital records requires regular device updates. Old hard drives, unusable smartphones, obsolete servers—these become electronic waste (e-waste). Global e-waste exceeds 50 million tons annually and continues to increase.
Value of Zero Maintenance
TokiStorage requires no maintenance once engraved. No electricity, no regular updates, no cloud contracts needed. "Make it and it's done" product design is rare in modern economies that assume continuous consumption.
A 1000-Year Time Horizon
A recording medium that can preserve for 1000 years generates no device updates, power consumption, or waste during that period. It's the concept of long-life products pushed to the extreme.
5. SDG Goal 16 — Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Goal 16 aims to "Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels."
Target 16.9
By 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration.
1.1 Billion "Non-Existent People"
An estimated 1.1 billion people worldwide lack official identification. Birth not registered, records lost as refugees, outside administrative systems—they officially "don't exist." Healthcare, education, financial services, voting—access to all rights is restricted.
No Records Means No Rights
"No records" directly translates to "no rights." Inheritance, land ownership, marital relations—without proof of these, legal protection cannot be obtained. Records are the foundation of rights.
Records Independent of Administration
TokiStorage enables proof of existence independent of administrative systems. Even if nations collapse, even if administration fails to function, records engraved in quartz glass remain. For vulnerable people, this can be a means of protecting rights.
6. SDG Goal 13 — Climate Action
Goal 13 calls for "taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts."
Target 13.1
Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
Climate Change and Record Loss
Climate change increases the risk of record loss. Coastal flooding from sea level rise, server failures from heat waves, frequent natural disasters—digital infrastructure is vulnerable to climate change.
Energy Consumption Problem
Data centers consume massive amounts of electricity. Global data center power consumption accounts for 1-1.5% of worldwide electricity consumption, emitting CO2 comparable to the aviation industry. This burden increases with data volume growth.
Zero-Energy Storage
TokiStorage requires no electricity for storage. While engraving uses power, storage for the subsequent 1000 years is energy-free. A fundamentally different approach from data center-dependent record systems.
7. SDG Goal 10 — Reduced Inequalities
Goal 10 aims to "Reduce inequality within and among countries."
Target 10.2
By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.
Digital Divide
Access to digital records reflects inequality. High-speed internet, latest devices, digital literacy—these are concentrated among the wealthy. The more digitization advances, the more those without are excluded.
Universality of Reading
Records engraved in quartz glass can be read with a microscope. No advanced technology or special software is needed. Digital format obsolescence is irrelevant. Universal access unaffected by technological evolution.
Intergenerational Inequality
Digital records are managed at the current generation's convenience. Service terminations, format changes, data migrations—future generations have no say in these decisions. A 1000-year preservation timeframe mitigates intergenerational inequality.
8. "Leave No One Behind" in Records
What is required when applying the SDGs' core principle "Leave No One Behind" to records?
Universal Access
Records that don't assume specific technology, infrastructure, or literacy. Formats that can be read without electricity, without internet, without specialized knowledge.
Sustainable Costs
Enabling everyone, not just the wealthy, to leave proof of existence. No ongoing maintenance costs. Completed with a single expenditure.
Temporal Inclusion
"Leave No One Behind" including not just current people but future generations. Today's records remaining readable 100, 500, 1000 years later.
People Outside the System
People outside administrative systems—refugees, stateless persons, homeless—being able to leave proof of existence. Recording means independent of official systems.
"Sustainable records are records that can prove everyone's existence beyond current technological, economic, and institutional constraints."
9. Limitations of SDGs and the Problem of Records
The SDGs framework itself has limitations.
The 2030 Time Horizon
The SDGs target year is 2030. But the true meaning of sustainability requires a longer time horizon. Achieving goals in 2030 means nothing if they can't be maintained in 2050 or 2100.
Bias Toward Measurability
SDGs emphasize measurable indicators. But the value of proof of existence is difficult to quantify. Lost records, forgotten people, vanished stories—these don't appear in statistics.
Individual Dignity
SDGs primarily aim for collective, statistical improvement. But proof of existence is ultimately an individual matter. Each person's life, each person's story. There is value that collective indicators cannot capture.
10. Toward Sustainable Proof of Existence
Considering what sustainable proof of existence should look like from an SDGs perspective.
Multilayered Approach
Combined use of digital and analog records. Both cloud and physical media. Balance between short-term accessibility and long-term preservation. Multilayered recording strategies that don't depend on a single method.
Community's Role
Sustainable records are difficult for individuals alone. Mechanisms for families, regions, and communities to share and inherit records. Distributed storage is a form of mutual preservation by communities.
Relationship Between Technology and Humans
Technology is a means, not an end. Quartz glass technology is merely a means to prove human existence. Not over-relying on technology, also cherishing human memories and stories.
Responsibility Across Generations
We have a responsibility to protect records inherited from past generations and pass them to future generations. "Leave No One Behind" as advocated by SDGs is also solidarity across time.
Conclusion: The Challenge of Record Sustainability
SDGs pursue economic, social, and environmental sustainability. But the perspective of "record sustainability" is insufficiently discussed.
Without records, existence cannot be proven. Without proof of existence, rights cannot be claimed. Without rights, SDGs benefits cannot be received. The issue of records concerns the foundation of all SDG goals.
Modern digital record systems are short-lived, expensive to maintain, create access disparities, and consume energy. This contradicts SDGs principles.
TokiStorage presents one answer. Zero maintenance, energy-free, 1000-year preservation, universal reading—a technological approach that can contribute to multiple SDG goals.
But technology alone is insufficient. Community involvement, institutional development, solidarity across generations—sustainable records also need human foundations.
When applying the principle "Leave No One Behind" to records, we are questioned. Not just people living now, but those who lived in the past and those yet to be born—how do we prove and convey everyone's existence?
It is simultaneously a matter of technology, ethics, society, and civilization.
References
- United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- World Bank. (2021). ID4D Global Dataset.
- Forti, V. et al. (2020). The Global E-waste Monitor 2020. United Nations University.
- International Energy Agency. (2022). Data Centres and Data Transmission Networks.
- UNESCO. (2015). Recommendation concerning the Preservation of, and Access to, Documentary Heritage Including in Digital Form.
- Kanie, N. (2020). SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). Chuokoron-Shinsha. [Japanese]