The 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals

The Heads of State and Government and High Representatives, meeting at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in September 2015, decided on an Agenda of unprecedented scope and significance that included new global Sustainable Development Goals. 

The 2030 Agenda resolves, between 2015 and 2030, to end poverty and hunger everywhere; to combat inequalities within and among countries; to build peaceful, just and inclusive societies; to protect human rights and promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls; and to ensure the lasting protection of the planet and its natural resources. 

The Agenda resolves also to create conditions for sustainable, inclusive and sustained economic growth, shared prosperity and decent work for all, taking into consideration different levels of national development and capacities.

The Agenda acknowledges the importance for international financial institutions, including the World Bank Group, to support, in line with their mandates, the policy space of each country, particularly developing countries.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals, with 169 associated targets, build on the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals and seek to address their unfinished business and end all forms of poverty by committing to achieve sustainable development in its three dimensions – economic, social and environmental.

The SDGs are unique in that they call for action by all countries, poor, rich and middle-income to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. Targets are defined as aspirational and global, with each government setting its own national targets guided by the global level of ambition but considering national circumstances. Countries have the primary responsibility for follow-up and review of the progress made in implementing the Goals, which will require quality, accessible and timely data collection. 

Sustainable Development Goals 

  • Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
  • Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
  • Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
  • Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
  • Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
  • Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
  • Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
  • Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
  • Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
  • Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
  • Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
  • Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
  • Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts*
  • Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
  • Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
  • Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
  • Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

Site icon credits: Creative common

  • Ervin Bolat
  • Liricon
  • BomSymbol
  • Adrien Coquet