What is the future for the Sustainable Development Goals ?
In 2015, world leaders gathered at the United Nations and agreed on an ambitious blueprint for the future: the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
They promised to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all by 2030. It was a rare moment of global unity and optimism, setting a shared agenda for governments, businesses, and civil society alike. Now, with the 2030 deadline just five years away, the question is unavoidable: what is the future for the SDGs?
The SDG concept
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are embedded within the UN’s 2030 Agenda. This ambitious 15-year strategic vision was a blueprint for peace and prosperity and the partnerships needed for people and the planet.
The concept of sustainable development as a balance between environmental conservation and economic growth can be traced back to the 1972 U.N. Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. The concept was further refined in the Brundtland Commission report entitled Our Common Future in 1987. The SDG concept emerged from the Rio+20 Summit in June of 2012 where Columbia and Guatemala proposed a follow-on programme to the Millennium Development Goals. The SDGs were developed over a three-year period in a process which began with global surveys and which led into two years of intensive UN negotiations involving all of the world’s 193 countries.
"We suffer no illusions of the challenges ahead. But we understand this is something that we must commit ourselves to. Because in doing so, we recognize that our most basic bond -- our common humanity -- compels us to act."
In 2014, Irish UN Ambassador, David Donoghue and the Kenyan Ambassador, Macharia Kamau were named as co-facilitators of the intergovernmental negotiations resulting in the 2030 Agenda. This was unanimously adopted by all 193 member states on 25th September 2015.
A stalled agenda
With the 2030 deadline just five years away, only 17% of the SDG targets are on track worldwide. Some 250 million children are out of school because of the poverty of their societies, an estimated 733 million people struggle with chronic hunger, and roughly a third of humanity cannot afford a healthy diet. Gender equality remains elusive. On climate action, emissions continue to climb despite pledges and technological advances. Based on the rate of progress since they were adopted by the international community in 2015, none of the 17 SDGs will be achieved by 2030
At the global level, SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 14 (Life Below Water), SDG 15 (Life on Land) and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) are particularly off track facing major challenges (indicated in red on the dashboards) and showing no or very limited progress since 2015. The five targets most on track are: Mobile use (SDG 9), Access to electricity (SDG 7), Internet use (SDG 9), Under 5 mortality rate (SDG 3) and Neonatal mortality (SDG 3). By contrast, most countries are either stagnating or backsliding on the following five targets: Obesity rate (SDG 2), Press Freedom Index (SDG 16), Sustainable Nitrogen Management Index (SDG 2), Red List Index (SDG 15) and Corruption Perception Index (SDG 16), despite pledges and technological advances.
Finland is top of the class when it comes to implementation of the SDG’s, followed by Sweden and Denmark. Ireland sits at 31st position, below the United Kingdom on 11th and above the US on 44th. The Covid-19 pandemic, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and a disinterested current US Administration have impacted the momentum and the focus on what was envisaged as a blueprint to develop a sustainable planet.
“It was always an ambitious agenda. We knew at the time that the targets we were aiming for would be very hard to achieve. There was a mood that we shouldn’t settle on a target that would not stretch us. Even in an ideal world it was unlikely all the countries would meet all the targets by 2030”
Donoghue in his role at the time as Irish Ambassador to the UN played a key role in the development of the SDGs. “We had to use charm, we had to use cajoling, sometimes we had to use other methods to try and persuade countries who were sceptical. We could solve some problems by fudging, let's be honest. There were other issues which didn’t lend themselves to verbal fixes, which involved some very crude trade offs. We reached consensus on 15 August 2015 and I’m particularly proud that there were no reservations made by anyone of the 193 countries.”
"Ireland is doing reasonably well on the SDGs. There are some areas where we are stronger than others. For quite a while we were not doing well on the climate goal. I’d have to say the arrival of the Greens in government five years ago did a lot to help bring up and deep the commitment of Government to climate action."
Former Irish UN Ambassador, David Donoghue, played a key role in the development of the Sustainable Development Goals
Planning for Future Generations
190 out of 193 countries have presented national action plans for advancing sustainable development. Globally, East and South Asia has outperformed all other regions in SDG progress since 2015. Within Ireland there have been calls for the appointment of a "commissioner for future generations" so that the long term planning and actions required to meet the SDG targets is removed from the electoral process.
Acknowledging the urgency for action regarding sustainable policies worldwide, after Rio+20, the then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon tasked the economist, Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, to create a global network of sustainable development problem solving. Thus, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) was established in 2012. The idea behind its creation is the fact that the world needs an era of intensive problem solving in sustainable development challenges. Since then, SDSN has established 62 National and Regional Networks all around the globe, that work on SDG implementation in their country or region. University College Cork and Queen's University Belfast co-lead Ireland's all-island network, SDSN Ireland.
Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025
Sustainable Development Goals 2025 Report
Sustainable Development Goals 2025 Report
120
million people have been forced from their homes, more than double the number in 2015.
800
million people are trapped in extreme poverty.
$1.4
trillion was the debt servicing costs in low - and middle-income countries, a record to date.
An all-island partnership
Since 2023 University College Cork (UCC) and Queen's University Belfast (Queens) have anchored the SDSN Ireland, as driving SDGs within local and national policy was a key strategic aim of UCC. "Climate change and sustainability challenges do not recognise borders" states Professor John O'Halloran, President of UCC. "We have worked with Queen's over many years and together we were keen to anchor a partnership that would drive Sustainable Development Goals on an all island basis."
"There’s a role to be played by universities in raising awareness of sustainability and the SDGs. The big advantage of SDSN Ireland is that it allows us to go to the more granular level of for example research. It enables universities and academics who are working on sustainability issues to put their efforts together to see synergies" states David Donoghue who now acts as the Executive Committee Chair of SDSN Ireland. For Queens, they have also seen both a national and global benefit of being part of SDSN Ireland.
"SDSN Ireland is the first of its kind in Ireland, north and south, to bring together many of the universities across the island plus the NGO’s to try and find collaboration with society and solutions for the big global changes we face across the world"
"Through this partnership we are connected to over 2,000 universities and NGO’s across the world. What is special about the SDSN is that is connected into the global south and many of the universities we don’t normally get to partner with. So suddenly it unlocks those really big global challenges for the university. For UCC and Queens we are obviously finding local solutions but they have global impact", highlights Professor Alcorn
Practical solutions
So how does SDSN Ireland work and what is it focused on? “We work at three levels. We work locally within our communities and try to be living laboratories. So what we learn here in UCC and other universities can spill out, but we also work with local authorities on a number of issues like in Cork here there’s the EU Mission City project to become carbon neutral" states John Barimo, Manager of SDSN Ireland, who works out of the President's office in UCC. "On an all- island basis we work north and south and bring the different national governments together to cooperate and find out what they need. We brought the relevant departments in each government together recently at a meeting to understand what they need from universities and we can help with their mission to implement the SDG’s. On a global level we work across this world-wide network so if we find solutions in Ireland we can share them out across the world."
SDSN Ireland works with universities across Ireland and with local and regional authorities to mainstream the SDGs within local and national policy. "Two years ago we worked with the Department of Climate, Energy and Environment to work with local authorities to help localise the SDG’s. We have been working with Cork County Council here locally on this and also with Co-operation Ireland, who have an All-Island Local Authority Forum. These are the chief executives of all the councils across Ireland, so we work with councils across Ireland and find out what they need. The more places we can find cooperation and share the load a bit, the quicker we can advance the SDGs" states Barimo.
Shared Challenges
Together UCC and Queen's are addressing shared all-island challenges. "When you look at Ireland’s makeup of emissions that cause climate pollution, we both share a large amount of our emissions from agriculture. That’s very different to other parts of the UK and very different to other parts of the EU. So it makes sense for us to work together on these topics, because when we have shared problems we can work on shared solutions" states Brian Ó Gallachóir, Associate Vice-President of Sustainability at UCC. “It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless when we see the huge challenges our world faces in the lead up to 2030; SDSN connects us locally, nationally and internationally to amplify our impact, support one another and find shared solutions to these challenges" states Maria Kirrane, Head of Sustainability and Climate Action in UCC.
"One of the big benefits of SDSN Ireland is that it brings together the research from universities across the island of Ireland to help inform policy to drive solutions we need."
What is the future of the SDGs
Just five years are left on the 2030 agenda but David Donoghue is strident that the SDGs will continue. "I don’t subscribe to the pessimistic view that multilateralism has had its day, that the UN has had its day, I don’t accept that. I do think we will see evidence of countries sprinting a bit in the next couple of years. But 2030 is not the end of the process, because so many countries remain positive about the SDGs they are not going to go away. They are deeply embedded in the consciousness of each government around the world."
"We are not suddenly going to turn off the lights in 2030. It is a good thing for human beings to set goals for themselves, even if we fall short, is that a reason to scrap the whole exercise?"
Words: Eoin Hahessy Images: Fennels, Clare Keogh, Maxwells
Professor John O'Halloran, President of UCC, Stacey Clark, VP Operations, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Professor Ian Greer, President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast.
Professor John O'Halloran, President of UCC, Stacey Clark, VP Operations, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Professor Ian Greer, President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast.
University College Cork was the first university in Ireland to map its research to the Sustainable Development Goals. A dedicated toolkit was also developed to integrate the SDGs into teaching and learning.
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