8 May 2023

Zero Draft Political Declaration to be adopted at the

High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF),
under the auspices of the General Assembly in September 2023

I. [Our shared resolve]

1. We, the Heads of State and Government and high representatives, have met at United Nations
Headquarters in New York on 18 and 19 September 2023, at the Sustainable Development Goals
Summit, 1 to review progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
2. We renew our resolve to fulfil the promise of the 2030 Agenda and the principles enshrined in it. We
will act with urgency to realize its vision as a plan of action for people, planet, prosperity, peace and
partnership, leaving no one behind. The 2030 Agenda remains our roadmap for advancing sustainable
development and overcoming the multiple crises we face.
3. We reaffirm that the 2030 Agenda is universal in nature and that its Goals and targets are integrated
and indivisible, balancing the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable
development.
4. The promises of the 2030 Agenda are in peril. Our world is currently facing numerous crises. Despite
years of sustainable development gains, millions of people have fallen into poverty, and hunger and
malnutrition are becoming more prevalent, and the impacts of climate change more pronounced. This
situation has led to increased inequality underpinned by weakened international solidarity. We remain
hopeful, given that our world, its people, and the United Nations have a history of resilience and
overcoming challenges. Our actions must match the magnitude and scope of the crises affecting our
world.
5. We commit to bold, ambitious, and transformative actions, anchored in international solidarity, shared
responsibility and robust cooperation at all levels. We will promote a systemic shift towards a more
inclusive, peaceful and sustainable world for people and planet, for present and future generations.
6. We commit to upholding the United Nations Charter and international law, the Universal Declaration
on Human Rights and international human rights treaties.
7. We emphasize that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is
the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.
8. We commit to targeted efforts to realize the promise to leave no one behind. We will reach the furthest
behind and create the necessary conditions to achieve all the SDGs for the benefit of everyone.
9. We must strengthen international cooperation for the poorest and most vulnerable countries to help
them recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as from ongoing conflicts, inflation and the cost-
of-living crisis and to build resilience to future shocks and climate risks. We commit to strengthening
pandemic preparedness, prevention and response.

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High-level political forum on sustainable development convened under the auspices of the General Assembly
(Sustainable Development Goals Summit).

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 10. We recognize the special challenges and needs facing all developing countries in pursuing sustainable
development, especially countries in special situations, in particular, African countries, least developed
countries, landlocked developing countries, small island developing States and countries in conflict and
post-conflict situations, as well as the specific challenges facing middle-income countries, in pursuing
sustainable development.
11. We remain resolved, between now and 2030, to end poverty and hunger everywhere; to combat
inequalities within and among countries; to build peaceful, just and inclusive societies; to respect,
protect and fulfil human rights and achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and
girls; and to ensure the lasting protection of the planet and its natural resources. We also remain resolved
to create conditions for sustainable, inclusive and sustained economic growth, shared prosperity and
decent work for all, taking into account different levels of national development and capacities.
12. We reaffirm that gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls will make a crucial
contribution to progress across all the Goals and targets. The achievement of full human potential and
sustainable development is not possible if one half of humanity continues to be denied full human rights
and opportunities.
13. We resolve to realize our vision of a world with access to inclusive and equitable quality education,
universal health coverage and quality health care, food security and improved nutrition, safe drinking
water and sanitation, affordable, reliable and sustainable energy and quality and resilient infrastructure
for all.
14. Sustainable development cannot be realized without peace and security; and peace and security will be
at risk without sustainable development. We reaffirm the need to build peaceful, just and inclusive
societies that provide equal access to justice and that are based on respect for human rights including
the right to development, on effective rule of law and good governance at all levels and on transparent,
effective and accountable institutions.
15. The 2030 Agenda remains our promise to the children and youth of today so that they may achieve
their full human potential and carry the torch of sustainable development to future generations.
16. We reconfirm our commitment to the UN75 Declaration, the Political Declaration of the 2019 SDG
Summit, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and the Paris Agreement. We will
fully implement these agreements and build upon their strong commitments.
17. We also reaffirm the Addis Ababa Action Agenda as an integral part of the 2030 Agenda. We are
committed to its full implementation which is critical for the realization of the SDGs and their targets.
18. We commit to enhancing global, regional, national and local partnerships for Sustainable Development
Goals, engaging all relevant stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector, academia, and
youth, recognizing the important contribution they can make toward achieving the 2030 Agenda.
II. [Our changed world - Progress and remaining gaps and challenges]
19. Our world has changed drastically since the first SDG Summit in 2019 and since we adopted the 2030
Agenda in 2015. Without immediate course correction and acceleration of SDG implementation, our
world is destined to face prolonged periods of crisis and uncertainty.
20. We are concerned about the persistent impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic and the multiple
interlinked crises that are pushing our world to the brink, particularly developing countries. The triple
crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution threaten planet and people. The crises of

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 migration and forced displacement, the cost-of-living crisis, the water, food, financial and energy crises,
and the growing impact of disasters are derailing progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.
21. In many parts of the world conflicts and instability have endured or intensified, and natural disasters
have become more frequent and intense, causing untold human suffering and undermining the
realization of the Sustainable Development Goals. We stress the critical importance of sufficient
humanitarian response and assistance, and we recognise that our ability to prevent and resolve conflicts
and build resilient, peaceful, just and inclusive societies has often been fragmented and insufficient.
22. We are deeply concerned that once again people in vulnerable situations are hit hardest by these
multiple and interlinked crises, across all countries, particularly developing countries, and countries in
special situations, such as least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island
developing States, with a deepening of the existing challenges for middle-income countries.
23. We welcome the Secretary-General’s special edition progress report on the Sustainable Development
Goals, and the Global Sustainable Development Report.
24. We are concerned that at the midpoint of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda the world is not on
track to meet most of the Goals by 2030. There has been progress in some areas. However, progress
against a very worrying proportion of targets is either moving much too slowly or has regressed below
the 2015 baseline.
25. We recognize the positive role and contribution of migrants for inclusive growth and sustainable
development in countries of origin, transit and destination, including by enriching societies through
human, socioeconomic and cultural capacities.
26. In the face of the multiple and interlinked global crises, we must meet the moment and embrace change
by taking immediate measures to scale up efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda and the Addis Ababa
Action Agenda, including through development cooperation, SDG investments, reforming the
international financial architecture, enhancing macroeconomic policy cooperation and implementing
actions to accelerate sustainable development, in particular in support of developing countries. We
welcome the Secretary-General’s efforts towards an SDG stimulus to tackle the high cost of debt and
rising risks of debt distress, massively scale up affordable long-term financing for development and
expand contingency financing to countries in need.
27. We are deeply concerned by the marked increase of the SDG financing gap and recognize the urgency
of providing sufficient development finance to developing countries. We are equally concerned by the
unmet commitments for climate change adaptation and mitigation.
28. We note that there has been positive progress in a limited number of areas. We recognize the efforts of
countries and stakeholders at all levels since 2015 to realize the vision of the 2030 Agenda and the
Sustainable Development Goals. We acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic produced valuable
lessons in science, technology, and innovation and digital transformation for sustainable development.
29. We acknowledge efforts and commitments from several ongoing processes and recent events and
conferences, such as the UN Water Conference, Food Systems Summit, Oceans Conference,
Transforming Education Summit, Sendai Mid-term Review, LDC5 Conference, UNFCCC COP27,
UNCDP COP15, HLPF under the auspices of ECOSOC, Financing for Development Forum, Fifth
Session of the United Nations Environmental Assembly and Fifth Session of the Intergovernmental
Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction.

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 30. We are encouraged by the progress achieved in the implementation of the Vienna Program of Action
for Landlocked Countries 2014-2024 and SAMOA Pathway, and call upon the international community
to take the opportunity of the Third International Conference on LLDCs and the 4th International
Conference on Small Island Developing States to identify new and emerging challenges, as well as
ways and means to address them, and opportunities for the sustainable development of LLDCs and
small island developing States respectively. We welcome the Doha political declaration and look
forward to the timely implementation of the Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed
Countries for the Decade 2022-2031.
31. We acknowledge the common purpose that has united governments, the UN system, civil society, the
private sector and other stakeholders to deliver on the 2030 Agenda.
32. We welcome the efforts of the UN development system to implement the reforms championed by the
Secretary General and endorsed by the General Assembly, especially the role of the resident
coordinators.
33. We recognize that the voluntary national reviews have generated valuable lessons learned and have
helped countries integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into national plans and policies.
III. [Call to action – turning our world towards 2030]
34. Fundamental, transformative, and urgent change at all levels and by all stakeholders is needed to
overcome the crises and obstacles facing our world. We commit to taking the actions necessary to
reverse declines and accelerate progress to implement the 2030 Agenda and achieve the SDGs.
35. We will leave no one behind by focusing our policies and actions on the poorest and most vulnerable.
We will endeavour to identify those who are being left behind and reach those who are the furthest
behind first. People who are vulnerable must be empowered. Those whose needs are reflected in the
2030 Agenda include all children, youth, persons with disabilities, people living with HIV/AIDS, older
persons, indigenous peoples, refugees, internally displaced persons, and migrants. We intend to see the
Goals and targets met for all nations and peoples and for all segments of society. We will take action
to combat inequalities within and between countries and pursue policies that stem the tide of rising
inequality, including through social protection systems and universal health coverage.
36. We are determined to make all efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda and achieve the Sustainable
Development Goals by the target year of 2030. To this end, we commit to:
Transformative actions for the SDGs:
a) We commit to targeted and accelerated action to remove all legal, social, and economic barriers to
achieving gender equality, the empowerment of all women and girls, and the realization and
enjoyment of their human rights.
b) We will continue increasing investment in inclusive and equitable quality education, including
early childhood education, youth and adult literacy programmes and initiatives, digital education,
skills enhancement and lifelong learning, stressing the importance of addressing the gender gap in
education and we take note of the 2022 United Nations Transforming Education Summit.
c) We will take action to spread the benefits of digitalization. We will expand participation of all
countries, in particular developing countries, in the digital economy. We will leverage digital
technology to expand the foundations on which to build more comprehensive, dynamic and
adaptive social protection systems. We commit to building capacities for inclusive participation in

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 the digital economy and to bridge the digital divide, including through strong partnerships to bring
technological innovations to all countries. We look forward to the elaboration of a Global Digital
Compact.
d) We will take integrated action at all levels to accelerate the transition to sustainable food systems
and promote healthy nutrition, diets and consumption practices, and to recover momentum and
accelerate efforts to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition. We will address water scarcity and
stress and drive transformation from a global water crisis to a water-secure world, ensuring the
availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
e) Recognizing the need to increase the share of renewable and clean energy, we will take steps to
provide access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, including through
enhanced international cooperation to assist developing countries.
f) We recommit to reducing disaster risk and building resilience by mainstreaming disaster risk
reduction, management and resilience across all sectors and at all levels, integrating disaster risk
reduction with climate, sustainable development and humanitarian action. We will accelerate the
pursuit of policy, investment and innovation to reduce disaster risk and build the resilience of
countries, economies, communities and individuals, and we recognize the need for a broader and
more people-centered preventive approach to disaster risk reduction.
Securing a sustainable future for Our Planet:
g) We urge developed country parties to fully deliver on the goal of 100 billion United States dollars
urgently and through to 2025 and emphasize the importance of transparency in the implementation
of their pledges. We welcome the outcomes of COP-27 held in Sharm El-Sheikh, including the
decision on funding arrangements for responding to loss and damage associated with the adverse
effects of climate change, including a focus on addressing loss and damage.
h) We will take urgent action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss to put nature on a path to recovery
for the benefit of people and planet by conserving and sustainably using biodiversity and ensuring
the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of genetic resources, while providing the
necessary means of implementation. We will follow up on the goals and targets of the Kunming-
Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and aim to close the $700 billion biodiversity finance
gap.
i) We will continue to support efforts to implement the strategic objectives of the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification, affirming that combating desertification, land degradation
and drought and achieving land degradation neutrality have emerged as a pathway to accelerating
progress towards achieving the SDGs.
Levers for SDG acceleration:
j) We commit to use science, technology, and innovation as drivers of sustainable development. We
will take action to enhance the ability of developing countries to benefit from science, technology,
and innovation through promoting access to research and development, and through partnerships.
We aim to increase funding for SDG-related research and innovation and build capacity in all
regions to contribute to and benefit from this research. We will seek to better manage the benefits
and challenges of artificial intelligence. We undertake to increase the use of science and scientific
evidence in policymaking.

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k) We commit to bridging the science, technology and innovation divide and providing financial and
technical support and technology transfer on mutually agreed terms to developing countries,
including through South-South and triangular cooperation.
l) We pledge to take action to strengthen national efforts to collect high quality, timely, and reliable
data on SDG progress and to intensify efforts to strengthen data and statistical capacities in
developing countries. We will continue to strengthen our efforts to collect, analyse and disseminate
relevant and reliable data, disaggregated by sex, age, disability and other characteristics relevant in
national contexts, for better monitoring and policymaking to accelerate the achievement of the 2030
Agenda.We commit to increasing the availability of SDG data and closing SDG data gaps at all
levels, increasing domestic financing for data and statistics, and embracing new data sources and
innovative approaches.
m) We will strengthen the integration of the SDGs into our national policy frameworks and develop
national plans for transformative and accelerated action. We will make achieving the SDGs a
central focus in national planning and oversight mechanisms. We will further localize the SDGs
and advance integrated planning at local and sub-national levels. We recognize the importance of
policy frameworks that enable inclusive and sustainable growth.
Mobilizing resources, boosting investment, and building capacity:
We commit to scale up our efforts to finance sustainable development. We will take concerted actions
at national and international levels, including steps to improve the investment environment, facilitate
long-term lending at lower interest rates, enhance domestic resource mobilisation, combat illicit
financial flows, and undertake measures to address unsustainable debt burdens of developing countries.
We will endeavour to further align domestic and international resource flows towards SDG
implementation. We recognize the need to promote quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient
infrastructure, in particular in developing countries. We emphasize the importance of developing
dynamic domestic private sectors to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in a sustainable and
equitable manner by creating and strengthening an enabling business environment. We commit to take
further actions to finance sustainable development, including the following:
n) We will ensure significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including through
enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide adequate and predictable means for
developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, to implement programmes and
policies to end poverty in all its dimensions.
o) We urge development partners to scale up and fulfill their ODA commitments, including the
commitment by many developed countries to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of gross national
income for official development assistance (ODA/GNI) and 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to
the least developed countries.
p) We recognize the importance of new and emerging challenges and vulnerabilities in regard to
developing country external debt sustainability. Strengthened multilateral coordination by all
creditors is needed to address the deteriorating debt situation.
q) We call for an urgent re-channeling of unutilized Special Drawing Rights to countries most in need,
including through Multilateral Development Banks.
r) We support reform of the international financial institutions, including their governance, to be more
fit for purpose, and to broaden and strengthen the voice and participation of developing countries
in international economic decision-making, norm-setting, and global economic governance.

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 s) We support MDB reform efforts and encourage dialogue between MDBs and other financial
institutions. We urge MDBs to bring forward actions to mobilize and provide additional financing
within their mandates to support developing countries to achieve the SDGs.
t) We recommit to the promotion of a rules-based, non-discriminatory, open, fair, inclusive, equitable
and transparent multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core,
as well as meaningful trade liberalization.
u) We commit to strengthening the means of implementation and revitalization of the Global
Partnership for Sustainable Development and, in this regard, we will explore measures of progress
on sustainable development that complement or go beyond gross domestic product to have a more
inclusive approach to international cooperation.
v) We reiterate our call for enhanced international support for multistakeholder partnerships for
implementing effective and targeted capacity building in developing countries, recognizing that
capacity development is integral to achieving the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.
w) We commit to convening a fourth international conference on financing for development in 2025.
37. We recognize that the integrated nature of the Sustainable Development Goals requires a global
response. We renew our commitment to multilateralism, to find new ways of working together and to
ensure that multilateral institutions keep pace with the rapid changes taking place. We further commit
to finding peaceful and just solutions to disputes and to respecting international law and the purposes
and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, including the right to self-determination of peoples
and the need to respect the territorial integrity and political independence of States.
38. We commit to fully support the UN development system, including the RC system and the Joint SDG
Fund, to deliver better in support of Member States’ effort to drive SDG transformation for inclusivity
and sustainability.
39. We commit to using the review of the high-level political forum at the 78th session of the General
Assembly to further strengthen the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda, harnessing data to track
progress in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals and targets, strengthening analysis of the
interlinkages across the Goals and targets, including policy implications of their synergies and trade-
offs.
40. We look forward to the Summit of the Future and other processes, recognising that their outcomes can
provide further impetus to our shared efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
41. Midway to 2030 we are considerably off-course for the world we want, but with political will, the
promise of the Sustainable Development Goals remains attainable, and we resolve to fulfil it.
42. We pledge to accelerate our common efforts to reach this vision by 2030. We pledge to act now, for
present and future generations, turning our world towards a sustainable and resilient path by 2030, and
leaving no one behind.