World Has ‘Legitimate Hope’
United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s words “we can have legitimate hope that we will achieve our goals by 2030” appears to be the quiet confidence people across the world are beginning to feel looking at the body language of most world leaders. The dramatic affects of climate change in the last five years seems to have shaken every one into a firm belief that it is their last chance.
On September 25, 2015, the 193-Member United Nations General Assembly formally adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, along with a set of bold new Global Goals, which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed as a universal, integrated and transformative vision for a better world.
“The new agenda is a promise by leaders to all people everywhere. It is an agenda for people, to end poverty in all its forms – an agenda for the planet, our common home,” declared Mr. Ban as he opened the UN Sustainable Development Summit.
The UN chief’s address came ahead of the Assembly’s formal adoption of the new framework, Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is composed of 17 goals and 169 targets to wipe out poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change over the next 15 years.
The Goals aim to build on the work of the historic Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which in September 2000, rallied the world around a common 15-year agenda to tackle the indignity of poverty.
The UN chief hailed the new framework as an agenda for shared prosperity, peace and partnership. “It conveys the urgency of climate action. It is rooted in gender equality and respect for the rights of all.”
“The 2030 Agenda compels us to look beyond national boundaries and short-term interests and act in solidarity for the long-term. We can no longer afford to think and work in silos.
On the adoption of the new agenda, UN Economic and Social Council President (ECOSOC) Oh Joon said action on Sustainable Development Goals must start immediately.
Universal Goal on Energy
United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson welcomed the adoption of the first-ever universal goal on energy, but cautioned that it will take “arduous work” to reach the targets needed to end poverty and combat climate change as part of the new sustainable development agenda.
Mr. Eliasson spoke of the importance of working across economic, social and environmental dimensions to participants of a high-level event of Sustainable Energy for All, a multi-stakeholder partnership, on the sidelines of the UN Sustainable Development Summit.
He cited as examples of successful partnerships already underway.
For example, he said, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the Carbon War Room, KLM, Novozymes and the UN Foundation have partnered to scale up the development and deployment of sustainable bioenergy solutions.
And in Bangladesh, India, Mali and Mozambique, the Alliance for Rural Electrification and the OPEC Fund for International Development are working together to implement mini-grid projects.
Mr. Eliasson also commended domestic initiatives, such as Brazil’s successful “Light for All” program, Saudi Arabia’s planned $109 billion dollar investment in solar energy, and India’s strong commitment to energy access for all by 2019.
Mr. Eliasson noted that progress is too slow in some areas of the world, most notably in sub-Saharan Africa, but with leadership and the foundations that are already laid, “we can have legitimate hope that we will achieve our goals by 2030.”
“But it is going to be an arduous work,” he said. “We have set the vision and direction. Now we must take the concrete steps forward in a determined way to the benefit of all.”
