The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), approved in 2015 by the UN General Assembly, present an attractive focal point for soil science research in the years to come, if only because at least four SDG’s , relating to food security, water quality, climate mitigation and biodiversity preservation, have direct links with the soil. This has been pointed out clearly by now and the next step is to present results of inter- and transdisciplinary research, with a prominent role of soil science, showing specific examples in practice where significant advances have been made towards achieving SDG’s. Examples can be framed in terms of exemplary “lighthouses”, a term used in the climate research community. Special attention should be paid to: (i) the manner in which inter- and transdisciplinary research was realized; (ii) the adequacy of existing soil research and the needs for additional research; (iii) the manner in which seperate SDG’s can be addressed simulateneously in a comprehensive systems approach and (iv) relations with existing rules and regulations on land use and environmental quality. This session will clarify and support a broad feeling that many existing soil based land-use studies already support SDG’s without being recognized as such by non soil scientists and policy makers and that appropriate framing in terms of the SDG’s would do justice to the significance of soil science in this particular context.