Stepping up efforts to achieve the SDGs

Gathering at the SDG Summit in New York, USA, on the 18th and 19th September world leaders agreed to urgently step up their efforts to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), our global roadmap out of crises, by 2030.

At the midpoint of SDG implementation, the SDGs are in peril. Tens of millions of people have fallen into poverty since 2020. Over 110 million are forcibly displaced. Inequalities have worsened, strikingly so for women and girls. Many governments are forced to choose between debt payments and investing in healthcare and education. The climate emergency is wreaking havoc on lives and livelihoods. Developing countries and the world’s most vulnerable people continue to bear the brunt of these crises.

Under current trends, 575 million people will still be living in extreme poverty in 2030 – and only about one third of all countries will meet the target of halving national poverty levels. The world is back at hunger levels not seen since 2005 – and food prices remain higher in more countries than in the period from 2015-2019. On this current trajectory, it will take 286 years to close gender gaps in legal protection and remove discriminatory laws. And in the area of education, the impacts of years of underinvestment and learning losses are such that by 2030, some 84 million children will be out of school and 300 million children or young people who attend school will leave unable to read and write.

At the summit, leaders adopted a decisive, action-oriented political declaration highlighting their collective commitment to build a sustainable, inclusive and prosperous world by 2030. With a strong focus on the means of implementation, and in particular, on financing for development, the declaration acknowledges that without a quantum leap in investments to enable just and equitable energy, food, digital transitions and a transformation in education and robust social protection in developing countries, the goals simply will not be met. 

Additionally, the declaration urges immediate action to deliver an SDG Stimulus proposed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, which calls for a massive increase in financing for the achievement of the SDGs to the tune of USD 500 billion each year. It also conveys strong support from all countries for a much-needed reform of the international financial architecture to better reflect today’s global economy.

The Summit of the Future, following the SDG Summit in 2024, is to build upon the latter’s outcomes and turbocharge the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

(UN/ile)

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