SDG Moment 2024: Driving Just Transitions for SDG Acceleration

Your excellencies,

As has already been raised by the speakers today, the challenges to achieve the 2030 Agenda by 2030 are formidable, but not unsurmountable.

Achieving the SDGs will depend on our political will and commitment to make the right choices.

The context, we know, is very challenging: Growth is weak. Debt is too high. SDG investments are in retreat. Climate change financing is inadequate. We heard that. Inequalities are widening and trade is at risk.

This stark reality proves a crucial point: that linear solutions will no longer work.

Non-linear strategies are needed to address the complex challenges we face.

But the good thing is that we live in a world defined by non-linear dynamics.

Who, for example, could have foreseen the meteoric rise of renewable energies?

Solar energy costs are now one fifth of what they were five years ago and one thousandth of what they were in the 70s.

Who could have guessed the exponential growth of mobile technology, empowering billions of people with access to information, education and finance? The success stories of India and Brazil in Digital Public Infrastructures are a clear proof.

 More recently in the pandemic, who could have foreseen the rapid development of vaccines? It took less than 12 months while some predicted it will take between 5 and 7 years.
 

So your Excellencies,

To take non-linear approaches means two things: unlocking catalytic investments in developing countries to open fiscal space, and focusing those investments on areas that unleash the most synergy.

On investments, we must implement the SDG Stimulus, which includes a five-fold increase in annual multilateral development banks’ lending with more affordable and longer term loans, including climate financing, like we heard.

To crowd in private investment, strengthening the global financial safety net (with a greater use of the SDRs), and a swifter, more multilateral system for debt restructuring.

And we need to reform the international financial architecture to adapt it to 21^st-century realities and build inclusive governance structures. We heard the President of Guatemala: it’s not only for countries to benefit from these reforms. It is for them to participate in the making of these critical decisions. 

But how best to invest these resources? UNCTAD research reveals the hidden synergies among the SDGs and their targets.

Education and Gender Equality are the most synergetic investments. We have been saying this from decades ago, haven’t we?

We know that education isn't just about literacy; it equips people to make informed health decisions, engage in their communities, and contribute to a thriving economy. This, in turn, strengthens social cohesion, reduces inequalities, and promotes peace - a ripple effect that touches multiple SDGs.

And empowering women is not only about gender equality but also about universal access to education, healthcare, job opportunities, about women as agents of change and drivers of progress, not as a vulnerable group. Closing the gender gap in the workforce could add a staggering 28 trillion dollars to the global GDP. Tell me what other measure can give you that.

We need a deliberate strategy to take advantage of the digital revolution and the energy transition to benefit the developing world.

Look, the invisible hand will not, on its own, direct AI tech towards the SDGs or green investment towards the LDCs for a fair and just transition.

So, the most non-linear thing we need is the political will and leadership to deliberately address the gaps, harness the opportunities and avert the risks.

Excellencies,

The future is not something that happens to us, it is something we build.

Although we often hear about a cascade of crises that hold us back, we still have the opportunity to create a cascade of progress, to create virtuous cycles, not vicious ones, a wave of positive change, not a downward spiral.

Multilateralism has delivered the first step: The Pact for the Future, the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations to achieve the SDGs.

So, now I call on you, governments, private sectors, civil societies, community leaders to cooperate to act together now to save our humanity because too many people depend on it. And because the SDGs are too big to fail.

I  Thank you.