(KfW Development Research: Views on Development 2, 17 September 2015)
In September 2015, the United Nations will adopt a new agenda for sustainable development, which is to be implemented by 2030 (the "2030 Agenda"). At its core are 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). What makes this Agenda unique is the fact that it directly links steps to overcome poverty and to improve human well-being with environmental protection, and that these goals are to be binding on all countries rather than, as before, merely seeking to show the poor countries the way to a better future. At the same time, it is the result of an eighteen-month negotiation process in New York, in which around 70 government representatives participated.