By UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)

Almost eight years have passed since the international community agreed to take bold and transformative steps to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a plan of action to secure the rights and well-being of everyone on a healthy, thriving planet. Today, at the halfway point to 2030, that promise is in peril and a fundamental shift is needed – in commitment, solidarity, financing, and action – to put the world on a better path. And it is needed now.

Promises in peril

The recently released ‘Report of the Secretary-General on Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals’ draws on the latest data to sound the alarm for action. Of the roughly 140 targets with data, only about 12% are on track to be achieved by 2030; close to half, though showing progress, are moderately or severely off track; and some 30% have either seen no movement or regressed below the 2015 baseline.

Giving up on the SDGs or extending the deadline to meet them is not an option. The world has been rocked by a series of interlinked crises – the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict, the climate crisis, and a weak global economy. Recommitting to the 2030 Agenda is the best roadmap out of these crises, but we are fast running out of time to correct course.

Even before the events of the past three years, trust in public institutions had been declining for decades. Changes in the world of work, globalization, and technological breakthroughs – which raise aspirations, but also fears – left many people in a precarious position. 

There is a narrowing window of opportunity over the next seven years to redouble our efforts to eliminate poverty and hunger, advance gender equality and overcome the triple planetary crisis. Failure to heed this call will fuel greater political instability and displacement, further erode trust in public institutions, upend economies, and lead to irreversible existential changes to our natural environment. Above all, it will cause immense suffering for current and future generations – especially among the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people and countries.

Making the SDG Summit a turning point

The SDG Summit, in September 2023, must signal a genuine turning point. It must mobilize the political commitment and breakthroughs our world desperately needs. It must deliver a rescue plan for people and planet.

At the center of this rescue plan, Heads of State and Government must recommit to seven years of accelerated, sustained, and transformative action, both nationally and internationally, to deliver on the promise of the SDGs. Leaders can show their resolve by adopting an ambitious and forward-looking political declaration at the SDG Summit and presenting global and national commitments for SDG transformation.

Delivering change at the speed and scale required to achieve the SDGs by 2030 will demand that political leaders make bold decisions to match their ambitions. It will require transferring resources from one sector to another, creating new regulatory environments, deploying new technologies, and mobilizing of a wide range of actors to advance disruptive change. Doing so can strengthen trust and social cohesion.

These efforts must be funneled toward securing dignity, opportunity, and rights for all while reorienting economies through green and digital transitions and towards resilient trajectories compatible with the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Just transitions are paramount with the need for universal social protection and decent job opportunities. These can be supported by initiatives like the UN Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions, which is mobilizing political efforts to channel funds from international, national, public, and private sources, including from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

At the global level, a once-in-a-generation commitment is needed to overhaul the international financial and economic system so that it responds to today’s challenges, not those of the 1940s. It is essential that countries have the resources needed at scale to invest in both their immediate recovery and in long-term sustainable development outcomes, including climate action.

A surge in SDG financing is needed with an SDG stimulus of USD 500 billion per year, with simultaneous reforms of the international financial architecture to make it resilient, equitable, and accessible for all. It is also critical that developing countries have better access to global trade, science, technology, and innovation. Unprecedented collaboration among Group of 20 (G20) members will be needed to support developing countries to advance SDG and climate action.

It is not too late to turn things around. This generation is equipped with knowledge, technologies, and resources unprecedented in history. Breaking through to a better future for all demands that leaders put this advantage to use to lift hundreds of millions out of poverty, advance gender equality, put our world on a low-emissions pathway by 2030, and secure human rights for all.

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This article is the first in a five-part series by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), published in partnership with IISD. Focusing on the SDG Progress Report special edition themed, ‘Towards a Rescue Plan for People and Planet,’ the series puts forth areas of collective action necessary to turn things around so we can deliver on the promise of the 2030 Agenda.