As the 2030 deadline for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals barrels toward us, many of them are woefully off track — with nowhere near enough financing to reach them. The world would need to come up with $4 trillion to meet the SDGs at a time when the United States — long the world’s biggest funder of official development aid — has opposed them altogether.
So, where do the SDGs stand, and is there any hope of achieving them?
The goals were off-track even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, explained Navid Hanif, assistant secretary-general for economic development in the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. But implementing them is the responsibility of national governments, which in recent years have faced numerous challenges.