UN Chief calls for fundamental shift to put world back on track to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2023/04/press-release-un-...

https://www.un.org/en/conferences/SDGSummit2023/documentation

Here the report: 

https://hlpf.un.org/sites/default/files/2023-04/SDG%20Progress%20Report%...

“Halfway to the deadline for the 2030 Agenda, we are leaving more than half the world behind. We have stalled or gone into reverse on more than 30 percent of the SDGs,” said the Secretary-General. “Unless we act now, the 2030 Agenda will become an epitaph for a world that might have been.”

The report reveals the number of people living in extreme poverty is higher than it was four years ago.  Hunger has also increased and is now back at 2005 levels, and gender equality is some 300 years away.  With current trends, only 30 percent of all countries will achieve SDG 1 on poverty by 2030.  Hunger has also increased and is back at 2005 levels and gender equality is some 300 years away. At the same time, inequalities are at a record high, and growing, while just 26 people have the same wealth as half of the world’s population.

According to the report, the opportunity to change the trajectory of the SDGs exists, but would require the international community to take unprecedented, collective action. The Report identifies five key areas of urgent action for all Member States:

1. Recommit to seven years of accelerated, sustained and transformative action, both nationally and internationally, to deliver on the promise of the SDGs.
2. Advance concrete, integrated and targeted policies and actions to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality and end the war on nature, with a particular focus on advancing the rights women and girls and empowering the most vulnerable.
3. Strengthen national and sub-national capacity, accountability and public institutions to deliver accelerated SDG progress.
4. Recommit to deliver on the Addis Ababa Agenda and mobilize the resources and investment needed for developing countries to achieve the SDGs.
5. Continue to strengthen the UN development system and to boost the capacity of the multilateral system to tackle emerging challenges and address SDG related gaps and weaknesses in the international architecture that have emerged since 2015.

Expanding on these recommendations, the UN Chief stressed the need for bold political leadership at all levels, urging all countries to deliver a National Commitment to SDG Transformation at the SDG Summit in September 2023, including by setting national benchmarks for reducing poverty and inequality.

“The SDGs are the path to bridge both economic and geopolitical divides; to restore trust and rebuild solidarity,” added the UN Chief. “Let’s be clear: no country can afford to see them fail.”

SDG Summit

The SDG Summit at UN Headquarters in New York on 18-19 September offers a decisive turning point for the world to pivot from the current crises to development. World leaders will gather at the SDG Summit during the UN General Assembly High-Level Week to review the state of the SDGs and renew their commitments to accelerate progress.

Media Contacts

Sharon Birch | birchs@un.org | UN Department of Global Communications

Helen Rosengren | rosengrenh@un.org | UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs

http://sdg.iisd.org/news/un-secretary-generals-report-outlines-rescue-pl...

The UN has released an advance unedited version of the UN Secretary-General’s annual report on SDG progress. This year’s “special edition” report updates on progress made since 2015 against the global SDG indicator framework. It will inform discussions during the July 2023 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) and the SDG Summit in September.

Produced at the mid-way point towards 2030, the report is titled, ‘Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals: Towards a Rescue Plan for People and Planet.’ It warns that “many of the SDGs are moderately to severely off track” and offers five recommendations to “rescue” the Goals by the 2030 deadline.

The report reveals that according to a preliminary assessment of around 140 targets with data, only about 12% are on track. Nearly 50% of the targets are moderately or severely off track and approximately 30% have either stagnated or “regressed below the 2015 baseline.”

Among other findings, the report highlights that under current trends, in 2030:

• 575 million people will be living in extreme poverty;
• 84 million children will be out of school, and of those in school, 300 million “will leave unable to read and write”;
• Renewables will make up “a mere fraction” of global energy supplies; and
• 660 million people will live without electricity and nearly 2 billion will have no access to clean cooking.