SDG Moment 2025

A standing-room only crowd packed the Economic and Social Council Chamber (ECOSOC) at UN Headquarters to consider how to accelerate progress during the final five years of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Organized as a townhall, the 2025 SDG Moment brought together leaders from governments as well as from stakeholder groups, on 22 September 2025, at the opening of the high-level week of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly.

Speakers highlighted events during 2025, including the Ocean Conference, the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4), the UN Food Systems Summit Stocktake, and upcoming gatherings for the Second World Summit for Social Development and UN Climate Change Conference, as evidence of the possibilities and opportunities to move forward. Speakers also emphasized the role of peace and inclusivity for moving toward the 2030 goals.

Salome Agbaroji, Nigerian-American youth activist and poet, delivered a poem in which she expressed hope that a time capsule focused on current global challenges – from hate speech to bleached reefs – would not be understood by children opening it in 2030.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted that while we have a long way to go, there are signs of hope: record numbers of girls are in schools, child mortality has declined, and over 90% of global population has access to electricity. He said these successes are the result of deliberate decisions and added that the interconnectedness of the SDGs offers an answer for how to speed up progress, given that the further we get on each SDG, the easier it is to achieve other SDGs. He emphasized the importance of action to reform the global financial architecture, take climate action, prepare for technological transformation, and make peace a priority.

UNGA President Annalena Baerbock emphasized the importance of speaking out to those who are trying to get rid of the 17 goals, and said the implementation gap is a gap of political will and resources rather than a gap of solutions. She emphasized the importance of attention to meeting commitments on loss and damage, fair energy transitions, restoration of ecosystems, and development that makes space for voices that are often ignored.

World Leaders Panel Discussion: Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, moderated the discussion with Hilda Heine, President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Micheál Martin, Taoiseach of Ireland, on their countries’ work to fulfill the SDGs.

Emphasizing that oceans are a defining feature of small island developing states' economies, and cultures, President Heine called for implementation of the Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) and returning to the drawing board to build a treaty to end global plastic pollution. She described climate change as an outsized challenge and highlighted the ways in which multilateralism is building momentum toward sustainable strategies to better protect and use the ocean. She outlined the Marshall Islands’ use of renewable energy sources, emphasizing the importance of taking ownership of the solutions to climate change.

Mohammed noted that nations are spending more money on weapons today than at any point in history. Taoiseach Martin responded that Ireland is endeavoring to apply the lessons of the Irish peace process by supporting conflict resolution in many parts of the world. Citing the recent attempts of some to undermine the multilateral order and the UN, Martin underscored the importance of reasserting multilateralism, said the most fundamental ingredient for peace is the political will of all parties. He highlighted our obligation to articulate fundamental principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the dignity of individuals and nations.

Queen Mathilde (Belgium) highlighted her work as an SDG Advocate and stressed the importance of equality, inclusiveness, reduction of poverty, gender equality, and addressing the impacts of climate change to achieve our collective goals.

Multistakeholder Panel Discussion: Speakers representing youth, business, women, and UN organizations were invited to discuss ways in which networked multilateralism where all stakeholders contribute to the SDGs can support our efforts in the coming five years.

Daphne Frias, Youth activist and Founder of Box the Ballot, highlighted that the word “radical” comes from the word “root,” and said it requires examining the root of a problem to take stock of what is not working and being ready to uproot those activities that do not still work.

Roya Mahboob, Founder and CEO of the Digital Citizen Fund, discussed the role of engaging women in Afghanistan with technology and digital literacy skills. She emphasized the importance of creating safe spaces, ensuring access to education and communication technologies, and building financial agency and community ownership.

Saying we are living in “disorderly times,” John Denton, Secretary General, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), emphasized that his organization was founded on the idea that the private sector would act where governments could not. Underscoring that we all have agency and citing the risks of inertia, he exhorted participants not to wait for politicians to act on access to water, education, and other goals.

Acknowledging that current geopolitics are “tricky,” Gilbert Houngbo, Director-General, International Labor Organization (ILO), underscored the importance of reaffirming the “social” as the center of development strategies. He emphasized that progress is being made globally and encouraged stakeholders to see the glass as half full rather than half empty.

Haoliang Xu, Acting Administrator, UN Development Programme (UNDP), described the SDGs as the best international framework we have for development, said multilateralism is working every day, and called on stakeholders to “double down” on their efforts to achieve the Goals.

In a closing discussion of what gives them hope, Frias emphasized that voices of the youth are being prioritized in the 2030. She said young people should remember their lived experience is their expertise and they should not wait to be given permission to use their voices.

Closing remarks: Deputy Secretary-General Mohammed highlighted that we know what works and what doesn’t, which means we are not suffering from a scarcity of ideas. She said we need to ensure there is a sense of urgency to what we do and to focus on implementation at scale. She expressed hope that participants would take the momentum from the event into other events during the high-level week, and closed the 2025 SDG Moment at 3:53 pm.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) writers for this meeting were Jessica Templeton, Ph.D., and Lynn Wagner, Ph.D. The Editor was Pam Chasek, Ph.D.