In September 2015, the General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda) and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which cut across disciplines, sectors and institutional mandates.
The new agenda acknowledges the integrated nature of the many challenges that humanity faces, from gender inequality to inadequate infrastructure and from youth unemployment to environmental degradation. In the preamble to the 2030 Agenda, world leaders affirmed that they were determined to protect the planet from degradation, including through sustainable consumption and production, sustainable management of its natural resources and urgent action on climate change, so that it could support the needs of present and future generations. A synthesis report of the United Nations Secretary-General on the post-2015 sustainable development agenda states that the 2030 Agenda represents a truly universal and transformational course for sustainable development.
