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UN PhotoUNGA80 / SDG MOMENT
STORY: UNGA80 / SDG MOMENT
TRT: 02:54
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 22 SEPTEMBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY
1. Med shot, UN flag, UN Headquarters
2. Med shot, United Nations Economic and Social Council Chamber (ECOSOC)
3. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The SDGs follow the law of increasing returns. The further we get on each goal – the easier it becomes to achieve others. And momentum is building.”
3. Wide shot, ECOSOC
4. SOUNDBITE (French) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“In all we do, we must make peace a priority. In 2024 global military spending was thirteen times official development assistance. That is equivalent to the entire GDP of the African continent. In other words, this is not a question of resources – it is a question of choices.”
5. Wide shot, ECOSOC
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Annalena Baerbock, President of the General Assembly, United Nations:
“We have made some progress. Child mortality has been halved compared to the start of the millennium. Clean energy now generates more than 40 percent of the world’s electricity, part of an urgently needed shift to renewables. Nearly a billion people have gained access to safe drinking water since 2015. Social protection now reaches over half of humanity, up from less than 43 percent a decade ago.”
7. Wide shot, ECOSOC
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Annalena Baerbock, President of the General Assembly, United Nations:
“Only 35 percent of the SDGs are on track. Nearly half, 47 percent, are seeing insufficient progress. 18 percent have even gone into reverse. The financial picture is equally stark. At a moment of rising need, net official development assistance fell by 7.1 percent last year. Meanwhile, developing countries paid a record 1.4 trillion US dollars just to service external debt in 2023.”
9. Wide shot, ECOSOC
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Annalena Baerbock, President of the General Assembly, United Nations:
“The gap towards 2030, our challenge is not a lack of solutions. It is a lack of political will and – sometimes intentionally, it is a lack resources.”
11. Wide shot, ECOSOC
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Queen Mathilde, Belgium / SDG Advocate:
“We cannot afford to be defeatist. It is all the more crucial at a critical time like this to take responsibility to pool our efforts so as to realize the goals and values we signed up to in 2015.”
13. Wide shot, ECOSOC
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, “The SDGs follow the law of increasing returns. The further we get on each goal – the easier it becomes to achieve others. And momentum is building.”
Today (22 Sep) at the event ‘SDG Moment: Keeping the Promise,’ Guterres said, “In all we do, we must make peace a priority. In 2024 global military spending was thirteen times official development assistance. That is equivalent to the entire GDP of the African continent. In other words, this is not a question of resources – it is a question of choices.”
Annalena Baerbock, President of the General Assembly, reported, “We have made some progress. Child mortality has been halved compared to the start of the millennium. Clean energy now generates more than 40 percent of the world’s electricity, part of an urgently needed shift to renewables. Nearly a billion people have gained access to safe drinking water since 2015. Social protection now reaches over half of humanity, up from less than 43 percent a decade ago.”
She also said, “Only 35 percent of the SDGs are on track. Nearly half, 47 percent, are seeing insufficient progress. 18 percent have even gone into reverse. The financial picture is equally stark. At a moment of rising need, net official development assistance fell by 7.1 percent last year. Meanwhile, developing countries paid a record 1.4 trillion US dollars just to service external debt in 2023.”
She stated, “The gap towards 2030, our challenge is not a lack of solutions. It is a lack of political will and – sometimes intentionally, it is a lack resources.”
“We cannot afford to be defeatist. It is all the more crucial at a critical time like this to take responsibility to pool our efforts so as to realize the goals and values we signed up to in 2015.”
Also at the event, Queen Mathilde of Belgium, SDG Advocate, said, “We cannot afford to be defeatist. It is all the more crucial at a critical time like this to take responsibility to pool our efforts so as to realize the goals and values we signed up to in 2015.”
The SDG Moment 2025 marks a critical juncture.
It is the mid-point of the Decade of Action and builds on transformative milestones, reinforcing the spirit of multilateralism and shared responsibility to deliver on the 2030 Agenda.
It is a call to keep the promise: to build a more just, peaceful, inclusive, and prosperous world for all.
The SDG Moment included an interactive discussion with world leaders from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and Small Island Developing States to reflect on the progress made on the SDGs and share their strategic insights on what must be achieved to reach the 2030 Agenda milestone.
This was followed by a multi-stakeholder panel which convened change makers and thought leaders representing youth, businesses, women and people with disabilities, and fragile settings, to inspire accelerated action and targeted investments to ensure that development shapes a just and inclusive future.
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