Global Sustainable Development Report

Executive Summary

Transformations are possible, and inevitable. This report is an invitation to embrace transformations with the urgency needed to accelerate progress toward the SDGs. Four years have passed since the 2019 Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) was published and even then, the world was not on track to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since 2019, challenges have multiplied and intensified.

The world has moved forward on some fronts, such as the deployment of zero carbon technologies as one of many climate mitigation strategies. Progress has been halted in many areas partly as a consequence of a confluence of crises – the ongoing pandemic, rising inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, and planetary, environmental and economic distress, along with regional and national unrest, conflicts, and natural disasters. As a result, overall progress towards the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs has been severely disrupted in the last three years, yet every inch of progress matters and counts. Strive not for one, but for all securities. The resilience and well-being of planet, people, environment, and ecosystems are degraded. A better future does not rest on one source of security, but on all necessary securities, including geopolitical, energy, climate, water, food, and social security. Strategies to embrace transformations should therefore be based on the principles of solidarity, equity and well-being, in harmony with nature. Working as a human collective, time and resources must be used as judiciously and effectively as possible. The world is changing at an accelerated rate. Halfway to 2030, there is an ever-greater urgency to build momentum, embrace solidarity, and speed up progress on the SDGs. To do that, decision-makers need to use time and resources —human, knowledge, financial, and institutional, among others— as judiciously and effectively as possible, and take a systematic and strategic approach to drive and accelerate transformations.

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