UN forum builds momentum towards SDG Summit

Convening at the halfway point between the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 2030 deadline, the July session of the 2023 UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) sought to build momentum for the SDG Summit in September. It conducted in-depth review of five SDGs and heard presentations of 39 VNRs.

Participants discussed possible responses to accelerate implementation of the Goals that underwent in-depth review this year. The ENB summary report of the meeting highlights that:

• SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) is “alarmingly off-track”;
• While achieving SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) by 2030 poses “an unprecedented challenge,” the Goal is still achievable with scaled-up ambition and the right policies;
• “There is hope” for SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), with progress on some targets such as mobile network access, but the pace of implementation on others needs to quicken, and more support for innovation and infrastructure in least developed countries (LDCs) is needed;
• Challenges to achieving SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) include a growing urban divide, inadequate housing, and limited access to public transport; and
• While there have been advances in some areas of SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals), such as development aid, remittance flows, and access to technology, funding for development remains a major challenge, particularly in low-income countries.

While delegates acknowledged that only 12% of the SDG targets are on track, according to the ENB analysis of HLPF 2023, the Philippines Undersecretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs captured the mood best when he said: “We have not failed. The deadline is still ahead of us.”

Thirty-eight countries presented their Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) during HLPF 2023. Saint Kitts and Nevis presented its first VNR. Chile presented its third. Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Canada, the Central African Republic (CAR), Comoros, Croatia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the EU, Fiji, France, Guyana, Iceland, Ireland, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Maldives, Mongolia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Syria, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, and Zambia presented their second VNRs. The EU presented the first-ever supranational review. These sessions, ENB notes “facilitated the sharing of experiences, including successes, challenges and lessons learned.”

HLPF 2023 also included sessions on the implementation challenges faced by different groups of countries, including small island developing States (SIDS), Africa, LDCs, landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), and, for the first time, middle-income countries (MICs). According to ENB, MICs “are not considered poor enough to receive concessional financing yet face significant difficulties in raising capital for SDG implementation initiatives.” In addition, a session convened on how to “localize” the implementation of the SDGs. Perspectives of Major Groups and other Stakeholders (MGoS) also received attention.