Mid-way into their 15 years’ implementation, “the achievement of the SDGs is in peril.” Following the New York summit at the United Nations, members of the German Bundestag, including the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, sought public input on expectations for German development cooperation for the second half of the 2030 Agenda during their conference – Poor mid-term review of the 2030 Agenda – Expectations for German development policy after the SDG Summit on 28 September, at the German Bundestag.
The German federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze gave a keynote after which she joined other panelist on the podium, including the president of the European Investment Bank, Werner Hoyer, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam’s Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) Michael Davies-Venn, and Şehnaz Kıymaz Bahçeci, coordinator of the Women's Major Group at the UN. With moderation by the director of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability, Anna-Katharina Hornidge, panelists shared diverse perspectives that contribute to the “poor” mid-term assessment of the SDGs – from energy to the rights of women and from global governance challenges to details on recent initiatives on German development policies aimed to contribute improvements to SDGs implementation particularly in developing regions. Mrs Schulze said the SDGs are principles that inform German development policy, observed that to realising SDG targets finance is just as important as partnership and emphasised need for trust in multilateralism. Davies-Venn noted that that global benefits, such as reversing environmental degradation and biodiversity loss, that could result from implementing the SDGs are highly likely when the goals are realised in all countries. Mr Hoyer commented on the need for balancing between growth and sustainability outcomes. And Ms Bahçeci reflected on the importance of gender diversity to the SDGs. Notwithstanding the mid-term results, a strong sense of hope prevails for progress on the SDGs.
Conference URL: