The debate over a global development agenda beyond 2030 has begun. One lesson should shape it from the outset: Ambitious goals are meaningless without the means to achieve them.
The 2030 Agenda was underfunded from the beginning: The financial framework the international community could agree on were never sufficient to make the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) achievable. The promised "billions to trillions" model - assuming that a few billion in public finance would mobilise trillions in private investment - never mobilised private capital at anywhere near the scale required.
Ten years [...]
In times like these, simply refusing to lose sight of the long-term goals in the fight for a better world takes courage. Despite the backlash against the global sustainability agenda, government representatives and stakeholders gathered from 7 to 15 July 2026 at the annual High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) to discuss progress in implementing the 2030 Agenda and its future. This blog presents the key insights that have emerged from the conference.
