Achieving the SDGs: building on interlinkages among goals

In September 2015, 193 countries of the UN General Assembly adopted a new development agenda Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. With 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 underlying targets that are "integrated and indivisible", the agenda provides both an extraordinary chance and extraordinary challenge to society at the global, national and local level. If these goals are met, the pay-off is likely to be a higher level of well-being throughout the world, and a more sustainable planet. Innumerable connections exist among the goals and targets: some are dependent on one another; others have potential trade-offs between them. To effectively implement sustainable social, economic and environmental development and move forward on the SDGs it is necessary to understand and act on these interactions. This Wilton Park event considered the extent to which science and policy can connect and cooperate to achieve the SDGs, in particular how they can work together to help identify the most important interactions among SDGs to improve economic and social development. Discussion focused on the SDGs which will be considered at the UN High-level Political Forum in New York in July 2018, namely the goals pertaining to water (Goal 6), energy (Goal 7), cities (Goal 11), consumption and production (Goal 12), and land (Goal 15). Key points from the discussion will be fed into the High-level Political Forum to help inform the debate and encourage consideration of the interlinkages among goals.