Sustainable Development Goals
set of United Nations-defined global development goals and climate change
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The Sustainable Development Goals are a set of targets created by the United Nations to address global challenges like poverty, inequality, climate change, and environmental degradation. They matter because they provide a shared framework for countries and organizations worldwide to work toward a more sustainable and equitable future.
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Sustainable Development Goals (abbr. SDGs) were adopted in 2015 by all United Nations (UN) members for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The aim of the 17 global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet", tackling climate change, and working to preserve oceans and forests. The SDGs highlight the connections between the environmental, social, and economic aspects of sustainable development. Sustainability is at the center of the SDGs, as the term sustainable implies, but achieving the goals has been challenging. In the latest 2025 Sustainability Development Goals Report, the Secretary-General of the United Nations urges us to "act decisively and act now" in order to keep the goals within reach. Rising inequalities, climate change, and biodiversity loss are topics of concern threatening progress. The COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2023 made the challenges worse, and some regions, such as Asia, have experienced significant setbacks during that time.
There are cross-cutting issues and synergies between the different goals; for example, for SDG 13 on climate action, the IPCC sees robust synergies with SDGs 3 (health), 7 (clean energy), 11 (cities and communities), 12 (responsible consumption and production) and 14 (oceans). On the other hand, critics and observers have also identified trade-offs between the goals, such as between ending hunger and promoting environmental sustainability. Furthermore, concerns have arisen over the high number of goals (compared to the eight Millennium Development Goals), leading to compounded trade-offs, a weak emphasis on environmental sustainability, and difficulties tracking qualitative indicators.