The making of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development  

In 2000, world leaders set out a series of time-bound targets - with a deadline of 2015 - that became known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Thanks to millions of people taking action and a massive global effort, real progress was made. The number of people living in poverty fell to less than half of its 1990 level. Over two billion people gained access to better drinking water. 

Yet, by 2000, 1.2 billion people were still living in extreme poverty and more than 800 million people particularly women and young people were suffering from chronic hunger.  A debate on how to advance the global development agenda beyond 2015 started to take place. 

More than two years of intensive public consultation and engagement with civil society and other stakeholders around the world, which paid particular attention to the voices of the poorest and most vulnerable, led to the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

Building upon the Millennium Development Goals started in 2012 at the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development which initiated an inclusive intergovernmental process. 

The UN System Task Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda, chaired by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), was set up by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and brought together more than 60 UN agencies and international organizations.  

In its first report to the Secretary-General, Realizing the Future We Want for All, the Task Team outlined a vision for the post-2015 development agenda and suggests four key dimensions which can help to guide goal setting. These are: (1) inclusive social development; (2) inclusive economic development; (3) environmental sustainability; and (4) peace and security.  

The Secretary-General’s High-level Panel of Eminent Persons also provided guidance and recommendations on the post-2015 development agenda. Their report, published in May 2013, concluded that the post-2015 agenda needs to focus on: leaving nobody behind; putting sustainable development at the core; transforming economies for jobs and inclusive growth; building peace and effective, open and accountable institutions for all; and forging a new global partnership; 

The Open Working Group of the General Assembly on Sustainable Development Goals contributed to the process and the UN Secretary-General produced a synthesis report in December 2014. 

Intergovernmental negotiations started at the beginning of the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly and concluded in September 2015 when the new development framework was adopted by world leaders at an historic UN summit at the General Assembly in New York. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development offers a better future for billions of people around the world and for our planet as a whole. 

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