Man has been influencing the environment since its inception. Throughout history, from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the second half of the 18th century until today, many negative changes have taken place in the ecosphere and the natural conditions of life on Earth have changed significantly. Accelerated development of transport and transport infrastructure has occurred, mass production has led to deforestation, large amounts of all types of waste have polluted air, water and soil, leading to degradation, biodiversity loss and ozone depletion, and rising Earth's temperature has reduced snow and ice blanket. This pressure on the environment is the result of man's irresponsible attitude towards the environment, that is, his insufficient level of consciousness. In order to raise the level of awareness of the population and thus increase the responsibility for the environment, various ecological movements began to be established in the world. The first environmental movements appeared in the 1970s. Millions of people are involved in today's environmental movements, which shows how much more aware they are of the changes that are taking place in their environment, which can very well be influenced. At the session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sustainable Development in September 2015, the document „Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development“ was adopted. It contains a set of 17 global sustainable development goals that address global challenges in areas critical to humanity and the planet. However, they will not be achieved if humanity continues to destroy ecosystems, deplete resources and violate human rights. That is why this paper deals with the importance of environmental movements in achieving the goals of sustainable development.