Permanent Representatives of Ireland and Qatar to the UN held informal consultations on elements for inclusion in the 2023 SDG Summit political declaration. Member States exchanged views on priorities, areas of focus, and gaps to be highlighted in the outcome document.
Deliberations drew on the Co-Facilitators’ elements paper of 28 February 2023, which is based on the inputs shared by participants at the informal consultations held on 3 February.
According to the elements paper, the political declaration “will be a consensual, concise, action-oriented, transformative and ambitious document, reaffirming the commitment towards a just, equitable, sustainable, inclusive and prosperous world by 2030.” The declaration “will acknowledge efforts and commitments from several ongoing processes,” including the UN 2023 Water Conference, the Transforming Education Summit, “COPs,” the Fifth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5), the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), the Financing for Development (FfD) Forum, and the Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). It will also build on the lessons from the Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) and peer learning at the HLPF.
Co-Facilitator Fergal Mythen, Permanent Representative of Ireland, opened the meeting, highlighting the SDG Summit as “the number one event of the year in terms of importance.”
UN General Assembly (UNGA) President Csaba Kőrösi, said a transformative and ambitious political declaration calls for transformative elements that identify “game changers,” such as metrics beyond GDP, and a scientific validation system to make data comparable and validate aggregated impacts. He cast the SDG Summit as a meeting that seeks to generate a “quantum leap to turbocharge implementation.” Kőrösi called on Member States to demonstrate leadership and set out bold steps to enable “real transformation,” characterized by a recalibration of the existing system of priorities that raises the level of transparency and honesty to unlock new commitments.
Encouraged by the first briefing by an independent group of scientists, the UNGA President announced a second briefing that, on 12 April, will focus on: metrics beyond GDP; food security and sustainability transformation; and a scientific support system for the UN.
Kőrösi said he will also convene a townhall for civil society on 10 April that will address the need for accelerated progress towards SDGs by 2030.
Mythen acknowledged the need for transformative, ambitious, and ground-breaking ideas “to drive us forward.” Highlighting the SDG Summit as an opportunity to arrest negative trends on the SDGs, get back on track, and address new challenges, he said the political declaration needs to demonstrate that the international community is as united behind the 2030 Agenda as it was in 2015.
Co-Facilitator Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani, Permanent Representative of Qatar, underscored that the draft elements paper is meant to be indicative and serve as food for thought for further deliberations. She outlined the three elements of the paper – Our Shared Resolve, Our Changed World, and Turning Our World toward 2030 – and indicated the Co-Facilitators will prepare a zero draft based on feedback provided by Member States.
Mythen informed participants that the advance unedited version of the UN Secretary-General’s 2023 SDG Progress Report will be released on 24 April. To take its findings into account, he said the Co-Facilitators will prepare a zero draft in late April instead of early April, as previously announced.
Recognizing the need to use the SDG Summit to accelerate the implementation of the Goals, speakers broadly welcomed the elements paper as a good basis for discussions.
The Russian Federation urged including input form the UN Regional Commissions. He called for the elements to reflect, inter alia: “family-oriented” policies to incorporate future generations; a balance between climate change mitigation and adaptation, loss and damage, and sustainable production and consumption patterns; and a diversity of sources to achieve energy access and industrialization. He stressed the need to replace “coercion and protectionism” with cooperation towards a shared future.
Cuba, for the G-77/China, warned that some of the processes acknowledged in the elements paper do not have intergovernmentally agreed outcomes and urged focusing on the 2030 Agenda 2030, as mandated.
The EU underscored the need for the elements to:
- align efforts by all stakeholders towards a sustainable future for all;
- be “more concrete” in describing the current crises, including biodiversity loss, pollution, climate change, and the war in Ukraine;
- emphasize the link between peace, development, and human rights;
- bridge the SDG financing gap and the digital divide;
- ensure intergenerational equity;
- include lessons learned and opportunities; and
- offer concrete recommendations to make the SDG Summit “implementation summit,” for peaceful and prosperous societies that leave no one behind.
China urged mobilizing political will to forge consensus around a “global macro-policy framework” to address pressing challenges, including food and energy crises and risks in the financial sector, and called on Member States to collaborate and advocate for “true multilateralism.” He highlighted the need to respond to the needs and demands of developing countries hit by multiple crises by putting their needs first, promoting collective actions, strengthening partnerships, and providing support. He called for accelerating the reform of international financial system to direct resources “where they are really needed.”
The UK warned the SDGs are “hopelessly off track,” saying we need to be bold in identifying levers to accelerate their achievement. He called for ambitious reforms of the international financial sector so that developing countries can tackle poverty and climate change at the same time.
Peru, for the Group of Friends for DRR, underscored that reducing disaster risk across all aspects of sustainable development “has never been more important.”
Israel emphasized the role of partnerships in addressing inequalities, enabling meaningful engagement of women and girls, persons with disabilities, and youth, and ensuring inclusive and equitable education for all and universal healthcare.
Switzerland urged referencing local partnerships and a whole-of-society approach to achieving the SDGs.
New Zealand, for Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (CANZ), warned against proposals that may create “a hierarchy of Goals” and called for mainstreaming contributions of civil society.
The US urged reflecting the need to catalyze concrete actions to address the triple crisis of biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution and to leave no one behind, reaching those furthest behind first. He called for efforts to mainstream the SDGs into policymaking and to ensure that multilateral development banks (MDBs) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stay solvent to better address global challenges.
Delegates from Egypt, Holy See, Japan, Pakistan, Thailand, and Türkiye as well as representatives of other Member States and stakeholders and major groups also made statements.
In closing, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed briefed participants on preparations for the SDG Summit. She indicated that the Secretary-General will write to leaders encouraging them to come forward with national commitments ahead of the Summit and that the UN will work to informally mobilize Member States and other actors around initiatives that will help drive change. She said the UN system is also seeking to secure ambitious and verifiable commitments from subnational and local authorities. Mohammed urged participants to “think big and aim high,” as we did in 2015. [UNGA Informal Consultations on 2023 SDG Summit Political Declaration: Video] [SDG Knowledge Hub Sources]