Failure to redouble global efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which promise a better world for all, could fuel greater political instability, disrupting economies and causing irreversible damage to the natural environment, warns a report released Monday by the UN.
In 2015, world leaders made a historic promise to guarantee the rights and well-being of everyone on a healthy and prosperous planet when they agreed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 SDGs.
However, according to the Report on the Sustainable Development Goals 2023, published Monday, July 10: Special Edition (The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023: Special Edition), the combined effects of the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, The grim global economic outlook and persistent effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have revealed systemic weaknesses and significantly hindered progress towards targets.
With only seven years left to implement the Objectives, the stakes are huge. Using the latest available data and estimates, the report presents a sobering image of the SDGs as the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development kicked off on Monday and is set to run until 19 July.
The Forum, during which countries will present concrete actions to achieve the SDGs, precedes the SDG Summit scheduled for September, a decisive moment for world leaders to urgently reverse the trend and relaunch the SDGs.
SDGs are at risk
Of the approximately 140 targets that can be assessed, half have moderate or severe deviations from the desired trajectory. In addition, over 30% of these targets have not achieved any progress or, worse, a decline below the 2015 baseline.
According to the report, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have blocked three decades of steady progress in reducing extreme poverty, with the number of people living in extreme poverty increasing for the first time in a generation.
If current trends persist, by 2030, 575 million people will remain trapped in extreme poverty and about 84 million children and youth will still be out of school. Based on data collected in 2022 in 119 countries, 56% of countries did not have laws prohibiting direct and indirect discrimination against women. The global temperature rise has already reached 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels and is expected to reach or exceed the critical tipping point of 1.5°C by 2035.
The report also warns that while the lack of progress is universal, the poorest and most vulnerable are suffering the worst effects of these unprecedented global challenges.
Further progress is possible
But progress in some areas since 2015 illustrates the potential for further progress. The share of the world’s population with access to electricity rose from 87% in 2015 to 91% in 2021, with nearly 800 million more people connected.
The report also shows that by 2021, 133 countries had already achieved the SDG target on under-five mortality, and another 13 are expected to do so by 2030. Despite the slowdown in global industrial growth, medium-high and high-tech industries posted robust growth rates. Developing countries installed a record 268 watts per capita renewable energy capacity in 2021. In addition, the number of people using the Internet has increased by 65% since 2015, reaching 5.3 billion people worldwide in 2022.
According to the UN, these significant development gains demonstrate that a breakthrough towards a better future for all is possible through the combination of collective action and strong political will, and the effective use of technologies, available resources and knowledge. This can lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, improve gender equality and put the world on a path to low greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Strengthening data collection will also be key to understanding where the world is and what needs to be done to achieve the SDGs.
