[Video Message]
Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the launch of the Global Sustainable Development Report - or GSDR - in the Asia-Pacific region.
I would like to thank our German partners for making this gathering possible, and for their strong commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals.
The state of SDG progress is alarming. Among the assessable SDG targets, only 17 per cent are on track to be achieved. Alarmingly, progress on 18 per cent of targets has stalled and 17 per cent have regressed from the 2015 baseline.
The state of the SDGs reflects a world that is dealing with interlinked crises and shocks that have compound impacts on our development efforts. Yet, these interlinked crises give us an opportunity to find impactful cross-cutting solutions that can also reduce trade-offs.
This system thinking approach to systemic change is at the heart of the GSDR guidance and recommendations. This approach will deliver solutions, jump start progress and get us back on track.
Allow me to make three further points about this.
First, we can still achieve the SDGs if we are willing to deepen our commitment and change our approach.
As the GSDR shows, acceleration on the SDGs will require fundamental changes in the way societies produce, consume, travel, interact and work.
One needed shift is a move to more science-based solutions.
This is essential to many of our development goals, from the transition to clean energy to the provision of universal healthcare.
But in order for these solutions to work, we need the right enabling environment and policy mix – tax policy, standards and regulations, and incentives.
Second, systemic change requires a whole-of-society approach – from policy makers and government officials to civil society, the private sector, scientists, Indigenous Peoples, and youth. The inputs and investment by all stakeholders is critical for securing and accelerating the changes we need.
Systemic change can mean loss of jobs and income streams in certain sectors. Consultation with stakeholders can help to ensure that compensation schemes, social protection packages, retraining and rehiring programmes are designed to address these trade-offs.
Third, we must ensure that the multilateral system supports national transformation efforts. The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, the UN Ocean Conference, the High-Level Political Forum and the Second World Summit for Social Development in 2025 must together create a global enabling environment to make space for policy shifts that can generate change.
Many of your countries will be presenting voluntary national reviews at the HLPF in 2025, assessing national progress on the goals. I encourage you to draw on the recommendations of the GSDR to inform your reviews. Take the opportunity to ask the questions that we need to find solutions. What is it that we are not doing right? What does the evidence show? Where is the way forward?
Events like this one provide important opportunities to explore these questions, share ideas, strengthen the science-policy interface and coordinate our actions to deliver on the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement.
We look forward to the actions emerging from this workshop and we stand behind you in your efforts.
Thank you!