Debate: Implementation and delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals
Date: WEDNESDAY, 22 JUNE 2022
Speaker: Barry Andrews
Country: Ireland
Language: EN

We talk about building back better. We talk about a just transition for workers. We talk about global climate justice, brokering peace and protecting democracy. And yet, the framework for delivering all of these objectives lies right under our noses. I would like to convince you today that the SDGs are our last and best resort. The EU has often been criticised for ignoring the concerns of ordinary citizens, as well as the grievances of developing countries. The SDGs are an opportunity to change this perception, because at their heart is the notion of justice. While we policymakers are terrified at the prospect of the end of the world, many of our citizens are terrified about the end of the month. Without our citizens on board, we put the success of the Paris Agreement at risk. What good is it if we reduce our emissions by 55% by 2030, if inequality continues to rise, as it has done in recent years? If wages continue to stagnate while the cost of living rises? Income and wealth, inequality is an example of one SDG where we are failing spectacularly. Wealth distribution in today’s world is more lopsided than ever. The wealthiest 500 people on the planet have amassed $7 trillion in wealth, an increase of $1 trillion in wealth since the beginning of the pandemic. If, for example, there was a global wealth tax on these 500 people that left them with EUR 1 billion each, we could feed and educate every child in the world. We could have universal health care. We could achieve SDG 2, 3 and 4 and still have many billions to spare. And inequality has a tipping point beyond which we end up with social unrest, with conflict and massive political change. We shouldn’t, therefore, be surprised when developing countries cannot be persuaded to do some of the heavy lifting on the issues that I’m talking about, when we are cutting aid, when we are blocking access to vaccines, when we are enabling gross inequality and erecting barriers to trade. And what good is it to have achieved our European climate targets if developing countries can’t afford to decarbonise, or if they are preoccupied by conflict or food insecurity on their own territories or mountains of unserviceable debt? By recognising our goals and those of our partners as inextricable, the SDGs are a blueprint for climate justice.  I think that the centre of the challenge is governance. The fact is that the EU still has no strategy for implementing the SDGs. This is despite the calls from the European Council in European Council conclusions in 2017 for a strategy. Yes, there is alignment, but there is no strategy and there is no roadmap for implementation of that strategy. It is welcome that the EU will present an EU voluntary review by 2023, but a review is no replacement for a genuine strategy with concrete targets, with benchmarks and a new approach to leadership and resources.  Leadership is crucial. This report contains concrete guidelines informed by the leading experts in civil society for revamping the implementation of the SDGs in the EU and beyond. It is political and it is clear. With this report and your support in the vote tomorrow, we will provide the EU with a democratic mandate to show true leadership on the SDGs once and for all.