UN secretary-general António Guterres called on Tuesday for finance, climate action, and peace to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the 2030 deadline.

Mr Guterres said this in his remarks at a high-level event at UN Headquarters aimed at shining a spotlight on the 17 Goals, which include ending extreme poverty, reducing inequalities, achieving gender equality and combating climate change.

“Let’s keep the SDG commitment alive,” he stated.

Although the SDGs represent a commitment to a better, global future, they are “facing massive headwinds,” he said.

He noted that more than four out of five targets are off track due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, crushing debt burdens, conflicts, inequalities and other challenges.

“The world has the wealth, the technology, and the know-how to achieve the SDGs,” he insisted before urging leaders to focus on “three development drivers” that can accelerate progress.

Mr Guterres underscored the need for finance because “crushing debt and inefficient tax systems are starving investments in health, education and food in many developing countries.”

He said the Pact for the Future, adopted by world leaders on Sunday, includes support for an SDG stimulus plan and reform of the global financial architecture to help ease the debt crisis many developing nations face.

The secretary-general urged governments to put forward ambitious national climate action plans that align with the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“This requires aligning national energy strategies with a 1.5-degree world, ending fossil fuel subsidies and putting a price on carbon,” he said while underscoring the need to phase out fossil fuels and scale up renewable energy. “Protecting development gains from climate upheaval is also critical.”

He called for new and generous contributions to the Loss and Damage Fund and for developing countries to keep their promise to double adaptation funding by 2025.

Mr Guterres stressed the need for peace as the third driver.

“All our development plans are quickly erased by relentless conflicts that cause death, destruction, hunger, displacement and gender-based violence,” he said. “We need peace — from Gaza to Ukraine to Sudan and beyond. I call on global leaders to heal divisions, end conflicts, and invest in people and peace.”

(NAN)