How the UN SDG Summit aims to transform the world.

The SDG Summit aims to adopt a forward-looking political declaration reaffirming commitment to the central, transformative promise of the 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind. Over two days, they will agree on how best to move forward.

Here are five things you need to know:

1. Why is the SDG Summit important?

   The global race to protect people and the planet began in 2015 with the adoption of the landmark 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Together, they represent a blueprint to speed economic prosperity and social wellbeing while protecting people and the environment.

   Time is of essence. Halfway to the 2030 deadline, the SDGs are in deep trouble. Progress stalled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis is deepening, and goals related to hunger, health, biodiversity, strong institutions, pollution, and peaceful societies are all off track.

   The SDG Summit aims to find solutions to change the current negative trajectory.

2. What's at stake?

   Only 15 per cent of about SDG targets are on track. About half are moderately or severely off track, and more than one third 30 per cent have either seen no movement or have regressed below the 2015 starting line.

   For instance, on the current trajectory, it will take 286 years to close gender gaps in legal protection and remove discriminatory laws (Goal 5). The global report card on education is equally serious. The impact of years of underinvestment and learning losses mean that by 2030, some 84 million children will be out of school, and 300 million children or young people who attend school will leave unable to read and write (Goal 4).

   The lack of SDG progress is universal but developing countries and the world's poorest and most vulnerable people are bearing the brunt of the planet's collective failure.

   Under current trends, 575 million people will still be living in extreme poverty in 2030, and only about one third of countries will meet the target to halve national poverty levels (Goal 1).

3. What's the plan to reverse current trends?

   As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said, 'There is no planet B.'

   That's why world leaders are gathering at the SDG Summit. Aiming to galvanize a global drive towards progress, they agree that it's the time for nations and partners to put turn words into action to turbocharge results on the ground.

   That includes calling on all countries and key stakeholders, local authorities, the private sector...