UN kicks off campaign for Sustainable Development Goals

New York, July 5

The UN has kicked off a communications campaign to rally for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the roadmap for people and planet adopted by world leaders in 2015.

Ahead of a critical UN Summit in September, the campaign aims to amplify an urgent call for ambitious new action, showcase the SDGs as the blueprint for sustainable progress globally, and galvanize the global public around this shared agenda for the common future.

At halftime toward the deadline of 2030, the promise of the SDGs is in peril.

For the first time in decades, development progress is reversing under the combined impacts of climate disasters, conflict, economic downturn and lingering Covid-19 effects.

The 2023 SDG Summit will gather world leaders at the UN Headquarters in New York on September 18-19 to reaffirm their collective commitments to the Goals and the promise to leave no one behind.

This summit is a defining moment to urgently put the world back on track to achieving the SDGs.

Starting on Wednesday, in a major digital activation across platforms and countries worldwide, the UN campaign aims to re-energize the conversation about the Goals.

“We want to get everyone on board for the SDGs,” said Nanette Braun, Director of Campaigns in the UN Department for Global Communications.

“Our hope is that decision-makers and individual citizens alike will feel inspired to join the conversation and contribute to achieving the Goals with new resolve and ambition.”

Building off the colour wheel brand of the SDGs, the campaign uses a dynamic new visual system for its messaging to build momentum, raise awareness and mobilize accelerated action for the SDGs.

One core campaign component is the call to individual citizens to take action on the SDGs through the UN’s ActNow initiative across all 17 Goals.

From using public transportation, to fundraising for schools or speaking up for equality, the platform lists steps that everyone can take to accelerate progress on the SDGs and create better lives on a healthier planet for all.

A curated group of high-profile influencers from entertainment, sports and beyond, the Circle of Supporters, will galvanise their social media communities with a combined reach of more than 80 million globally to take individual action on the SDGs and to impress upon decision-makers the urgency to act now.