The World Is Very Far Off Meeting The UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals
Although our progress is slow, not all hope is lost. The world needs to act quickly in order to achieve sustainable development and a reduction in carbon emissions by the year 2030.
In 2015, the United Nations agreed upon seventeen Sustainable Development Goals which aim to combat some of the world’s biggest development challenges by the year 2030. The Goals are all interlinked: ending poverty (SDG1) also means zero hunger (SDG2). Gender equality (SDG 5) supports good health and wellbeing (SDG3) - and so on. The world already has the resources and technology to achieve most of the 2030 goals. However, as of now, not enough resources are being directed into achieving The Goals. This needs to change.
Only 15% of the Sustainable Development Goals are on target to be achieved by 2030. There have been many setbacks that have held the world back from achieving The Goals. These include the Covid-19 Pandemic, the acceleration of the climate crisis and the cost of living crisis. It is still possible for the UN to achieve these vital goals by 2030. However, change will need to happen very quickly.
The UN Secretary-General has warned that "unless we act now, the 2030 Agenda will become an epitaph for a world that might have been”. The Secretary-General also made a clarion call that there is a vital need for different forms of finance to work together to achieve these goals and that the business-as-usual approach would end in the Sustainable Development Goals not being met.
Some initiatives for redirecting resources into The Goals Many have appeared. One is the 2030 Sustainable Development Collective Fund, a charitable accelerator fund that directly private wealth into little-known and unsupported sustainable development projects in the remote and low-income communities of the developing world. But such initiatives are rare.
To not commit more resources into achieving The Goals would be counterintuitive. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) calculated that delays in funding for The Goals in the short term will simply increase the total amount of finance required to achieve The Goals by 2030.
The UNCTAD also identified six pathways that the world must focus upon to better achieve The Goals by 2030, including combatting climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. To do this, it will be essential to strengthen communities under the Paris Agreement; to improve the management of ecosystems, reduce the effects of disasters and create new plans of action for preserving biodiversity. Francesca Perucci, chief of the Statistical Services Branch at the UN Statistics Division has warned that “almost all areas where you see progress, if you look at the rate or the pace of progress, it is never sufficient to meet the targets.”
As Perucci said, progress is slow and many fear that there is simply too much to be done before we reach the deadline in six years’ time. To achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals in time, it is therefore essential that the world pushes for an energy transition. To avoid further pollution of the atmosphere, there needs to be large-scale transition towards renewable energy and the general improvement of energy efficiency. To do this, electricity needs to be provided on a global scale, and it needs to be clean and affordable. This is currently happening at a much slower rate than it should be.
Food systems also need to make an effort to combat malnutrition and hunger whilst simultaneously eliminating practices that harm the environment and protecting biodiversity. In 2015, 777 million people were not receiving sufficient food, and in 2016, 815 million people worldwide were not getting enough nutritious food. Worldwide education also needs a to undertake a drastic transformation. Huge investments in education, especially in parts of the developing world, need to take place in order to achieve The Goals by 2030. This goes together with a need for the advancement of vital scientific research and early childhood developmental care.
The world is also trailing behind in terms of social protection, development and a basic level of available jobs. A modern humanity should be able to provide universal healthcare and social protection, at least at a basic level. Gender equality needs to be advanced as women and girls unfortunately still face many challenges which act as a barrier. Yongyi Min, the chief of the Sustainable Development Goal Monitoring Section at the UN, confirmed that “women have had some improvement in different areas, but women and girls still face challenges in all areas. We see a lot of discrepancy between the rich and poor.”
The basic advancement of decent jobs and their availability also needs to be pushed in less economically developed countries. As technology advances, digitalisation also needs to become more inclusive and readily available. Universal digital access is also essential to achieving sustainable development as it creates a more equal spread of access to financial services, banking and job opportunities.
Progress is slow and is trailing behind what it currently should be. Violent conflict, particularly in Gaza and Ukraine, have broken out and led to large amounts of displacement, human rights violations and poverty. Many are powerless to prevent violations of peace such as this. However, large scale companies and organisations have the means to do so, yet they are not trying hard enough. As of 2023, a mere 46 per cent of businesses were embedding the Sustainable Development Goals in their core operations.
Losses from climate related destruction have also impacted the United Nation’s ability to be able to achieve these goals. The world’s failings have not gone unnoticed, in 2019, students across the world participated in ‘climate strikes’ to protest the lack of action that was staking place to tackle climate change. Unfortunately, such strikes were powerless to create lasting change. Change can only be created through generous funding and projects which sustainable living and development. Funds are therefore an essential factor, and perhaps our only hope, in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
About the Creator
Elsie Cheung
I am a Hong Kong born writer living in London and writing about change and disruption in business and in the arts. I am also interested in female leadership and entrepreneurship.
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