In 2015, the 193 countries of the UN General Assembly adopted the 2030 Development Agenda. 17 Sustainable Development Goals were agreed upon, with all countries and stakeholders resolving to act in collaborative partnership to end poverty and protect the planet, leaving no one behind. The agreement took years to reach, and it is the first ever of this magnitude.
The H&M Foundation’s work is closely connected to several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and we are committed to this united call for a world that is prosperous, fair, and environmentally sustainable.
Decade of Action to deliver the Global Goals
The Goals are not progressing at the scale or speed required. Therefore, in 2020 the UN called for the Decade of Action to accelerate sustainable solutions to the world’s biggest challenges – ranging from poverty and gender to climate change, inequality and closing the finance gap.
In September 2019, the UN Secretary-General called on all sectors of society to mobilize for a decade of action on three levels:
- Global action to secure greater leadership, more resources and smarter solutions for the SDGs.
- Local action embedding the needed transitions in the policies, budgets, institutions and regulatory frameworks of governments, cities and local authorities.
- People action, including by youth, civil society, the media, the private sector, unions, academia and other stakeholders, to generate an unstoppable movement pushing for the required transformations.
According to the UN, the Decade of Action will:
- Mobilize everyone, everywhere
- Demand urgency and ambition
- Supercharge ideas to solutions
Covid-19 adding more urgency
The COVID-19 pandemic has put a lot of positive development on hold and it’s risking the progress towards the SDGs. The UN highlights the need to protect recent gains and that there will be a transformative recovery from the pandemic, one that addresses the crisis, reduces risks from future potential crises and relaunches the implementation efforts to deliver the 2030 Agenda and SDGs during the Decade of Action.
Learn more at the United Nation’s website for the Sustainable Development Goals.
