A/HRC/44/40 will accelerate, at which point the extent and depth of global poverty will be even more politically unsustainable and explosive. III. Recalibrating the SDGs 37. The SDGs and the 2030 Agenda aim to provide a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity.” They were adopted in September 2015 with great fanfare and are the dominant framework through which poverty eradication efforts and development policy are structured at the global level. But five years later, it is time to acknowledge that their aspiration to provide a “supremely ambitious and transformational vision” is failing in key respects. 38. This critique recognizes that the SDG process has been a “game-changer” in important ways and been used to very good effect in many settings. 61 The goals have made a very significant contribution to promoting awareness, galvanizing support, and framing the broader debate around poverty reduction. They have been especially valuable in contexts in which they provide the only available entry point for discussions of contentious issues. Nevertheless, the time has come for a re-evaluation in light of deeply disappointing results to date and a range of new challenges. A. Lack of adequacy and impact 39. In relation to poverty, SDG 1 begins with a call for an “end to poverty in all its forms everywhere.” Yet the targets set do not actually seek to eliminate poverty.62 The first target aims to end poverty as measured by the Bank’s IPL, at best a bare subsistence goal that, even if met, would leave billions facing serious deprivation. The second calls for reducing the proportion of people living in poverty under national measures by just half, a failure of ambition in a period of unparalleled wealth and inequality. The third, relating to social protection, stops conspicuously short of establishing a meaningful requirement for social protection floors, instead calling for vague and far less meaningful implementation of “systems” which might include floors, and “substantial” rather than universal coverage.63 40. In short, the SDG 1 targets are patently inadequate to actually end poverty, and the prospects of achieving them are rapidly receding. Official UN reporting acknowledges that even before COVID-19, the pace of global poverty reduction was decelerating and the first SDG 1 target would not be met by 2030.64 41. In terms of inequality, SDG 10 calls for reducing inequality within and among countries and the SDG’s rallying cry is “Leave no one behind.” In reality, as Oxfam has noted, “economic inequality is out of control.”65 While the Secretary-General has observed that inequality is “soaring,”66 and various UN agencies have produced incisive analyses of inequality,67 the annual SDG report treats inequality as just another box to tick. It notes that “Inequality within and among countries is a persistent cause for concern, despite progress in some areas.” 68 This superficiality epitomizes the broader failings of the SDG process to engage meaningfully with inequality. Analysis of voluntary national reviews shows that SDG 10 also scores very low in terms of attention from governments.69 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 10 Barbara Adams, “Democratic global governance: if it doesn’t challenge power it isn’t democratic,” in Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2019 p. 36; M. Kaltenborn, M. Krajewski, and H. Kuhn (eds.), Sustainable Development Goals and Human Rights (2019). Sanjay Reddy, “Global Absolute Poverty,” 10 February 2020. UN, “Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere,” available at https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/poverty/. UN, Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals: Report of the Secretary-General (2020), para. 9. Oxfam, Time to care: Unpaid and underpaid care work and the global inequality crisis (2020), p. 9. UN, Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2020, p. iii. UNDP, Tackling Social Norms: A Game Changer for Gender Inequalities (2020); UN, World Social Report 2020: Inequality in a Rapidly Changing World; UN, Financing for Sustainable Development. UN, The Sustainable Development Goals Report (2019), p. 42. UN, Voluntary National Reviews Reports – What do they (not) tell us? (2019), p. 4.