Briefing the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on the report, ‘Our Common Agenda,’ UN Secretary-General António Guterres said we must start “moving the recommendations in Our Common Agenda from ideas to action – from abstract to concrete.” He urged Member States to support “turbocharged” efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and make the SDGs “real in the lives of people everywhere.”

Addressing the meeting, Guterres highlighted progress since the report’s release 18 months ago, including the “breakthrough on loss and damage,” the recognition of the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, the Transforming Education Summit, the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection, and the decision to establish a UN Youth Office. But, he said, we “need to go further and deeper.”

The Secretary-General warned that today’s forms of multilateral governance are not adequate to address the pace and scale of the challenges the world is facing in the areas of climate, conflict, inequality, food insecurity, and nuclear weapons. He called on Member States to address gaps in intergovernmental cooperation.

Underscoring that “halfway to 2030, we are far off track,” Guterres invited Member States to come to the SDG Summit in September with a “clear commitment” to rescue the SDGs. He called for an ambitious political declaration that would recognize challenges and prioritize and mobilize investment and action across the core transitions needed to achieve the SDGs.

The Secretary-General reiterated his call for the Group of 20 (G20) to agree, by the SDG Summit, on a global SDG stimulus of at least USD 500 billion a year to support developing countries.

Urging Member States to “look into the substance and detail” of the proposals contained in Our Common Agenda, Guterres indicated that the Secretariat will issue a series of 11 policy briefs offering “concrete ideas” to advance work.

The first brief, he said, will address the New Agenda for Peace, by spelling out a vision for peace and security “for a world in transition and a new era of geopolitical competition.” The brief will take a holistic approach to “the peace continuum, from prevention, conflict resolution and peacekeeping to peacebuilding and sustainable long-term development.”

Two policy briefs on finance will focus on metrics that go beyond GDP, and on proposals for reform of the global financial architecture to ensure “it delivers effectively and fairly for everyone” and works for people, planet, and prosperity.

The other briefs will cover:

  • The needs of future generations, including a proposal to appoint an envoy serving as their global voice;
  • Improving the international response to complex global shocks through an emergency platform, including by ensuring access to the right data, expertise, resources, and capacities;
  • Global digital cooperation on maximizing and sharing the benefits of digital technology through a global digital compact where technology serves as “a motor for human progress”;
  • Information integrity, to help achieve an information ecosystem that is inclusive and safe for all;
  • The peaceful, secure, and sustainable use of outer space, to deliver on the SDGs and the Paris Agreement on climate change and address threats and emerging risks;
  • Reimagining and accelerating progress on education, focusing on six areas: the purpose of education; the learning environment; the teaching profession; harnessing digital transformation; investing in education; and multilateral support for quality education for all;
  • More systematic participation by young people in decision-making processes at the global level; and
  • Strengthening the capacities of the UN for the 21st century by building a ‘UN 2.0.’

Each of the 11 policy briefs will include analysis of their impact on the advancement of the SDGs, with gender equality as a cross-cutting theme. 

Many of the proposals contained in the briefs, Guterres noted, will contribute to preparations for the Summit of the Future in 2024, which he described as “a generational opportunity to reinvigorate global action … and develop multilateral frameworks that work for today’s world” and for “the future we want.” The Secretary-General looked forward to the recommendations of the High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism on “how we can fill the most consequential gaps in global governance.”

As an outcome of the 2024 Summit, Guterres hoped for an intergovernmentally agreed Pact for the Future, aimed at action “towards a fair and just global financial system, a commitment to a safe, peaceful and sustainable planet, putting technology at the service of humanity and protecting future generations.”

In his remarks to the meeting, UNGA President Csaba Kőrösi described his vision of investing in the preparations for the Summit of Future to “turbocharge” SDG implementation at all levels. He urged Member States to: review the lessons learned from voluntary national reviews (VNRs); determine where we can unlock new commitments; and spur the adoption of innovative policies based on scientific inputs.

The informal plenary meeting convened on 13 February 2023. [Briefing by the Secretary-General] [UN News Story]