‘Heal Divisions, End Conflicts, Invest in People, Peace’, Secretary-General Urges World Leaders, in Remarks to Sustainable Development Goals Event
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Moment event, in New York today:
The Sustainable Development Goals represent a bold vision: a commitment to a better, healthier, safer and more prosperous and sustainable future.
But the Goals are facing massive headwinds. More than four out of five SDG targets are off track. On top of the impacts from a global pandemic, many countries are being crushed by massive debt burdens, limited liquidity and sky-high borrowing costs.
Conflicts, hunger, inequalities and the climate crisis are all intensifying. And the global financial architecture is not providing developing countries with sufficient financing and liquidity or to act as an effective safety net for all.
The world has the wealth, the technology and the know-how to achieve the SDGs.
Last September’s SDG Summit included consensus around an SDG Stimulus of at least $500 billion per year in financing for developing countries — and the need for global financial architecture reform.
It highlighted key transitions to generate maximum progress — ending hunger, expanding renewable energy, digitalization, education, social protection and decent work, and ending the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.
It also underscored the vital importance of ensuring that women, girls and young people are at the decision-making table. Today, you will hear from leaders about their countries’ progress across all these areas — leaders determined to make changes, even in the face of great odds.
And we will celebrate some milestones at the global level. From reducing child mortality rates, to preventing new HIV infections, to increasing access to renewable energy and broadband, to greater gender parity across education systems.
As we reflect on next steps, I urge focus on the three development drivers that can accelerate progress. The first is finance.
Crushing debt and inefficient tax systems are starving investments in health, education and food in many developing countries.
The Pact for the Future includes support for the SDG Stimulus and global financial architecture reform to help ease the debt crisis of so many developing countries. This includes multiplying the lending capacity of multilateral development banks to provide more resources for climate action and sustainable development, and changing their business model to leverage massive amounts of private finance.
As we look towards next year’s Summits on Social Development and Financing, I urge all countries to double down on these reform efforts. The second development driver is climate action.
I urge countries to put forward ambitious national climate action plans that align with the 1.5°C limit, and cover the whole economy and all sectors. This requires aligning national energy strategies with a 1.5°C world, ending fossil fuel subsidies and putting a price on carbon.
It is time for a rapid and just phase-out of fossil fuels, and a rapid and smart scale-up of renewables to drive sustainable development, energy security and economic prosperity.
We must fairly and sustainably meet the global demand for critical minerals that can power the renewables revolution. And the Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals has provided recommendations to do this. Protecting development gains from climate upheaval is also critical.
We need new and generous contributions to the loss and damage fund. We need developed countries honouring their commitment to double adaptation funding by 2025. And we need Governments to agree on a significant new climate finance goal at the twenty-ninth UN Climate Change Conference, including new and innovative sources of finance. And the third development driver is peace.
All our development plans are quickly erased by relentless conflicts that cause death, destruction, hunger, displacement and gender-based violence. And the resources we desperately need to feed and educate our children and build a sustainable planet for our young people are wasted on military expenditures.
We need peace — from Gaza to Ukraine to Sudan and beyond. I call on global leaders to heal divisions, end conflicts, and invest in people and peace.
In our world of unprecedented wealth, knowledge and technologies, there is no excuse. It’s time to keep the promises of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to end poverty, protect the planet and leave no one behind. Let’s keep the SDG commitment alive.