UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said we must start “moving the recommendations in Our Common Agenda from ideas to action – from abstract to concrete.” He has 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.”
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.”
But he warned that today’s forms of multilateral governance are not adequate to address the pace and scale of the challenges the world is facing. Emphasizing 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.
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