Recent calls to change the SDGs and to lower ambition confuse two issues. The first is whether goals, such as universal access to healthcare, education, safe water, and clean energy, are achievable by 2030, which includes issues of technical and operational feasibility as well as affordability. The second is whether such goals are likely to be achieved given the failure rich countries to honor the goal of international partnership (SDG 17) as well as other failures in international cooperation and in domestic governance of many countries. We argue that the goals are achievable and affordable. Covid-19 is a setback for the SDGs but does not put the goals out of reach. Indeed, the SDGs provide a framework for recovery from the pandemic. In view of the technical feasibility of the SDGs, experts and scientists should speak “truth to power” about what needs to be done to achieve the SDGs instead of calling for lower ambition.

Table of Contents

The SDGs are achievable.......................................................................................................................... 3
The SDGs: A roadmap for the recovery from Covid-19 ........................................................................... 4
The need for international leadership and financing for the SDGs ......................................................... 5
Concluding remarks ................................................................................................................................. 6
References ............................................................................................................................................... 8

Recent calls to change the SDGs [2,3] confuse two issues. The first is whether goals, such as universal access to healthcare, education, safe water, and clean energy, are achievable by 2030, which includes issues of technical and operational feasibility as well as affordability. The second is whether such goals are likely to be achieved given the chronic failure of the United States and many other rich countries to honor the goal of international partnership (SDG 17) as well as other failures in international cooperation and in domestic governance of many countries.

The correct answer is that the goals are achievable but unlikely to be achieved, particularly given the politics of the rich countries and of major countries to join in an internationally coordinated response. Experts should therefore speak truth to power about the SDGs rather than abandon goals that reflect basic human rights and the need for humanity to respect the Earth’s planetary boundaries [4].

The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) mobilizes scientific and technical expertise from academia, civil society, and the private sector to support practical problem solving for sustainable development at local, national, and global scales. The SDSN has been operating since 2012 under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General. The SDSN is building national and regional networks of knowledge institutions, solution-focused thematic networks, and the SDG Academy, an online university for sustainable development