Policy information
Sustainable Development Goals
From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
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In September 2015, UN Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ("Transforming our World"). The 2030 Agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity and applies to both developed and developing countries. The centre piece of the 2030 Agenda is the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 17 SDGs reflect economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.
The goals cover areas such as:
- ending poverty
- economic development
- protection of the environment
- access to health and education services
- gender equality
- peaceful societies
- human rights
Each Goal includes a number of sub-targets, with 169 targets in total.
The 2030 Agenda builds on the Millennium Development Goals, the 2012 Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, and the UN Financing for Development process. The agreement of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change made 2015 a landmark year in international cooperation towards achieving sustainable development.
Ireland was at the centre of the intergovernmental negotiations for the 2030 Agenda and the 17 Goals. Our then Ambassador to the UN, Mr David Donoghue, and the Kenyan Ambassador Macharia Kamau were appointed co-facilitators of the final phase of intergovernmental negotiations.
The 2030 Agenda encourages countries to develop national responses to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and incorporate them into planning and policy. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) has lead responsibility for this but, as a whole-of-government initiative, all Ministers retain responsibility for implementing the individual SDGs relating to their functions.
The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) was assigned responsibility for preparing the first Sustainable Development Goals National Implementation Plan 2018-2020. The plan sets out arrangements for interdepartmental coordination, stakeholder engagement and periodic progress reporting at national and global levels.
Ireland's first Voluntary National Review was submitted to the UN in June 2018, and formally presented to the High-level Political Forum at the UN Headquarters in New York in July 2018.
A SDG Interdepartmental Working Group was established in 2018 and the latest meeting took place in December 2019.
The SDG Champions Programme was established by the government to raise public awareness of the SDGs through partnership and promotion. The Programme illustrates practical ways in which organisations and individuals can contribute to achieving the SDGs, using the champion organisations' practices as examples.
Each SDG Champion organisation for 2019/2020 focuses mainly on a select number of SDGs but all campaigns are built around the core message that the SDGs are for everyone in society and that each of us can make a contribution, large or small, to their success.
A fundamental feature of the 2030 Agenda is the inclusive and active voice stakeholders had in both the negotiation and adoption of the Agenda. Achieving sustainable development, and particularly the targets and commitments set out in the 17 SDGs, will require not only action by government but all individuals across society.
The National SDG Stakeholder Forum brings together organisations and individuals to discuss and workshop innovative ideas and solutions for achieving the SDGs in Ireland.
The UN High-level Political Forum (HLPF) is responsible for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda at a global level. The HLPF meets annually and features inputs from national governments, intergovernmental bodies, relevant UN agencies, civil society and other stakeholders.
Countries are encouraged to review implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) regularly and present Voluntary National Reviews (VNR). Ireland presented its first VNR at the HLPF in July 2018.
Minister of State, Sean Canney TD, represented the Government of Ireland at the 2019 High Level Political Forum as head of delegation and delivered Ireland's National Statement on progress of the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda.
The UN is currently examining how 2020’s HLPF can take place given the current COVID-19 situation.
