IM Yearbook 2020/21

What are SDGs?
They are a set of 17 SDGs
and 169 targets that are
applicable to different national
realities, including advanced
nations, middle-income developing
and emerging economies, small
island states, least developed
countries and post-conflict nations.
Can you please give
us a brief introduction
to the United Nations
Sustainable Development
Goals and explain what
they aim to achieve?
The United Nations
Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs), adopted in
2015, provide an international
framework to create more
sustainable and fair economies
as well as resilient and
prosperous societies by 2030.
They are a set of 17 SDGs and
169 targets that are applicable
to different national realities,
including advanced nations,
middle-income developing and
emerging economies, small
island states, least developed
countries and post-conflict
nations. The SDGs include
initiatives to end poverty,
ensure quality education,
achieve gender equality,
promote decent jobs and
take urgent action to combat
climate change and its impacts.
The SDGs are not the
first initiative of this kind.
They were preceded by the
Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) that were
agreed upon in 2000. The
SDGs are a second and more
ambitious step in realising a
global development agenda.
The MDGs promoted
economic growth combined
with social equity and
environmental protection.
The SDGs take on a more
comprehensive and holistic
approach to development,
sensitive to our ecological
and planetary boundaries
besides promoting poverty
reduction and lower inequality.
What capital investment
is required to implement
the SDGs?
The United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD) in 2015 estimated
global investment needs
between $5 to $7 trillion
per year to achieve the
SDGs. Developing countries
require around $4 trillion
per year, mostly in terms of
infrastructure investment such
as power, transport, water
and sanitation. Clearly, we
cannot meet the SDGs only by
utilizing public funds; private
support is required too. The
issue is more complicated for
low income countries as they
have to achieve the same set of
goals but have fewer internal
financing resources. Botswana,
Ghana or Sri Lanka, for
example, cannot be compared
with Switzerland, Sweden
or Germany in their ability
to meet the SDGs. Besides,
advanced economies have
already achieved some goals,
while developing nations
have a long way to go.
Beyond the country
differences, is the world
on track to achieving the
SDGs and is Covid-19
threatening progress?
The UN Secretary General
appointed the Independent
Group of Scientist to monitor
the progress in achieving
the SDGs. They produced a
report in 2019 and concluded
that the world is still far
away from reaching the
goals. For instance, we have
seen insufficient progress in
terms of reducing poverty in
Africa and low-income Asia.
Furthermore, climate change
is one of the biggest challenges
of our time and stopping or
reversing global warming
is a slow-moving process.
Covid-19 is definitely a setback,
hopefully of a temporary
nature. The world economy
in 2020 will experience the
greatest recession since the
Great Depression in the 1930s.
Estimates by international
organisations are that GDP will
contract by 6% to 7% worldwide
this year with positive
growth in 2021. However, the
pandemic presents both an
enormous challenge and also
opportunities for reaching
the SDGs. Gains in economic
and social progress made in
recent years are reversed. The
pandemic has also shown us
how interconnected people
and countries are for good
or bad, for example the virus
spread with utmost speed
across the world through
travel and people mobility
in a few weeks. The crisis is
forcing us to re-look at the
way forward and come up
with new solutions that truly
balance economic, social and
environmental progress. In
this sense, the SDGs provide
good priorities although
we need more in terms of
devising concrete strategies
for effective recovery and for
ensuring health and safety.
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