Partnership with European Union on Climate, Pandemic Recovery, Ending Inequality More Urgent than Ever, Deputy Secretary-General Tells Parliament Leaders

Following are Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as delivered, to the Public Discussion with European Parliament Vice-President Heidi Hautala, on the theme “10 years to go until 2030:  Decade of action for the Sustainable Development Goals”, held today:

It is a pleasure to join you at this critical moment for global action to deliver the 2030 Agenda [for Sustainable Development].  The United Nations is eager to strengthen its strategic partnership with the European Union to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals.

This work is more urgent than ever.  The pandemic has claimed more than 2.5 million lives and caused an unprecedented socioeconomic crisis that threatens decades of advances. 

The crisis has been hitting the most vulnerable hardest.  It has highlighted and exacerbated pre-existing inequalities in Europe and across the world.  But it has also underscored the relevance and urgency of the [Sustainable Development Goals].

COVID-19 recovery plans are an opportunity to invest in the [Goals], including to protect people and planet against the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss and to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

Delivering together on a better future requires bold policy choices that put the [Goals], gender equality and the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change at the heart of the pandemic recovery.

In that spirit, I welcome the choices being made by the European Union.  You are tasking European Commissioners to deliver the [Sustainable Development Goals] in their respective areas.  You are pursuing the European Green Deal and climate neutrality in Europe by 2050, underpinned by enhanced 2030 targets.

The European Parliament has a key role to play in taking strong commitments and transforming them into reality.  The Parliament can mainstream the [Goals] in the European political debate and in European Union policies.  You can help to raise climate and environmental ambitions and to monitor progress.  Importantly, the Parliament can support a just transition, climate adaptation and support for vulnerable populations. 

Leaving no one behind means focusing on those who have been struck the hardest by the crisis.  Let us not forget the skyrocketing violence against women and girls and the millions more women who have been plunged into extreme poverty, as they lost their jobs at a higher rate than men.

We must also address the needs of children and youth, many of whom have not yet returned to school; persons with disabilities; people lacking social protection; and those in the informal sector.

We need to make sure that countries have the resources to continue responding to the pandemic and to recover better, including through debt relief.  And we need to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines.

The summits, high-level meetings and other moments in the year ahead provide us with many opportunities to come together.  I count on the European Parliament and the European Union to engage actively so that we can make the most of these gatherings.

The European Union has called for ambitious global climate commitments ahead of [the United Nations Climate Change Conference], and for an ambitious post-2020 global biodiversity framework to be agreed at [the next Conference of States Parties].  We are eager to work together towards these achievements.

This year will also feature the United Nations Food Systems Summit and the Generation Equality Forum.  We welcome the central role being played by the European Union and several of its member States in the preparations for these important undertakings.

We have a chance to use this crisis to transform our world for current and future generations.  But we need to seize the moment.  Let us work together to reignite the Decade of Action and build a better world for all.