Lifestyle Sports: Latest from Food Politics: Weekend reading: Sustainable Development Goals progress (or lack thereof)

By Marion Nestle

August 07 2026

Weekend reading: Sustainable Development Goals progress (or lack thereof)

I am totally for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2015, they set targets for the betterment of global populations, to be achieved by 2030.

The targets were ambitious from the get go, but it’s a global tragedy that so little has been achieved. Here’s the summary.

This report is especially thoughtful, not surprising given its authors. They would like the report cited as:

Sachs, J.D., Lafortune, G., Fuller, G., Iablonovski, G. (2026). Implementing Sustainable Development: 2030 and Beyond.
Sustainable Development Report 2026. Paris: SDSN, Dublin: Dublin University Press. DOI: 20.500.14765/118015

The report stresses the need for implementation.

…the SDGs constitute the most comprehensive moral and political commitment the international community has ever made – to end
extreme poverty, ensure quality education, secure good health, achieve gender equality, decarbonize energy systems, protect oceans and forests, build sustainable cities, and make peace within and among nations.

The goals are highly ambitious and will not be achieved by the target date of 2030. ..They should remain our framework past 2030 because they define the future we want and need, even if our efforts to build that future have not yet reached the breadth, scale, and speed that the world’s governments pledged in 2015.

It lists the lessons:

Peace is the foundation of every Goal.
The SDGs are about transformation, not business as usual.
Transformations require long-term investments.
Long-term investments require long-term plans.
The scale of action is regional and local, not only national.
Finance is decisive – global public goods require global finance
Dangerous technologies require global governance.
The UN must be for all – and that means on all continents.

As for what comes next?

First, anchor the agenda in peace and human rights. Stop the wars, restore the UN Charter’s dispute-resolution mechanisms and redirect a meaningful share of military expenditure toward human development.

If only.

I’m inspired by the SDGs, imperfect as they may be (I’ve written about their strengths, gaps, and progress many times). And I very much believe in the value of setting unrealistic goals in public health; they define aspirations, and set advocacy agendas, and sometimes they can even be achieved.

I want everyone to advocate for this report’s what comes next.

Peace
Human rights
Some military spending redirected to human development

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