Sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the agenda

At the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015, the 193 Member States, represented by Heads of State and Government, adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and thereby agreed on the first set of globally valid sustainable development goals (SDGs).

In voting for the 2030 Agenda, all the countries entered a commitment to end poverty and hunger, to warrant the long-term protection of the planet through sustainable management of its natural resources and immediate action against climate change and to build peaceful, just and inclusive societies.

The core of the 2030 Agenda consists of 17 global sustainable development goals, the implementation of which is to be measured by 169 targets. All 17 sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda apply equally to industrialised, developing and threshold countries. As such, they are a mutual frame of reference for all countries – in North and South alike – and will serve as guiding principles for the Federal Government, Federal Provinces and municipalities in Austria as well

The 2030 Agenda builds on the Millennium Development Goals (Millennium Development Goals, MDGs), which had been applicable until the end of 2015, and the political concerns set forth in the final statement of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio + 20) held in 2012.

As a global partnership for sustainable development, the 2030 Agenda broadens the range of topics covered by the MDGs and their focus on developing countries to a system of universally applicable targets that are applicable to all countries: the SDGs for the first time integrate social and economic development goals with the ecological requirements of a global transformation towards greater sustainability. The cross-linkages between the targets, and the reciprocal influence they have on each other, is of crucial importance for their fulfilment.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is thus considered the new guiding framework for global development and environmental policies, which is set to define development work for the benefit of the national and global common good of present and future generations for years to come.

You will find further information on the 2030 Agenda, its implementation in Austria, related reports and the milestones of the international debate on sustainable development under SDGs/The 2030 Agenda of the Federal Chancellery at sdg.gv.at