Global leaders come together at the 2021 HLPF but remain far apart on the way forward

IOE office in New York provides a look at the outcome and major themes of the 2-weeklong global summit.

Moving further away from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The 2021 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) took place at a time when developed countries are seeing hope and recovery, while others, particularly developing countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), are seeing rising COVID-19 infection rates and continued socioeconomic devastation. Leaders and experts pointed to trends that show not only a lack of progress on the SDGs but backsliding in many areas.

• 100 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty by end of 2021 (World Bank).
• 140 million children fell back into poverty – 720 million children are now in poor households (UNICEF & Save the Children).
• 130 million people now suffering chronic hunger (UN Secretary-General’s report on SDGs).
• Shortfall of 75 million jobs this year compared to pre-pandemic trend (International Labour Organization (ILO).
• Gender inequality, domestic violence, forced and child labour, and child marriage are all on the rise (UNICEF).
• Children have reduced access to schooling, healthcare, clean water and food (UNICEF).
• Less than a quarter of the world’s population –and only 1% of people in low-income countries–have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine (Our World in Data/WHO).
• Only 19% of LDCs have access to the internet and 3.7 billion people are offline globally (ITU) – The digital divide deprives people of employment and business opportunities, access to health services, and even the lifeline digital cash payments in stimulus and social protection programmes.  

All of this is set against a background of environmental degradation and disasters and accelerating climate change. But the situation is not without hope: the IMF global forecast raised the global economic growth rate to 6% in 2021 and 4% in 2022.

Vision for Building Forward Better

For the first time since 2018, Member States have been successful in negotiating a Ministerial Declaration as the outcome document of the HLPF. This achievement is an important display of solidarity and unity on the need to come together in order to achieve sustainable development even while there were some disagreements on the way forward. While the adoption of the Declaration is certainly welcome, it does lack the ambition and action orientation needed to tackle the daunting challenges facing the world.

First and foremost is the need for equal access to vaccines. This was stressed as  key to socioeconomic recovery and getting everyone back on track to achieve the SDGs. While it would cost $50 Billion to reach a target of 60% vaccination rates in all countries by 2022, the IMF estimates that doing so would boost global output by $9 trillion by 2025.

The Declaration stresses the need for jobs for recovery. The UN Secretary-General called for "a dedicated focus on employment and decent work." Member States pledged to “create conditions for decent work for all, including for those in the informal economy" and to provide more support for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Building forward better and achieving the SDGs will also require:

• Expanded and sustainable social protection systems.
• Better and disaggregated data – what gets measured gets done. Data collection capacity in developing countries needs to be increased.
• Creation of greener and climate-friendly jobs.
• Support for innovation and science.
• Increased financing for sustainable development and debt relief programmes.
• More multistakeholder engagement and bringing in the private sector.

IOE at the HLPF

IOE, in its capacity as an international organisation with consultative status in UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as the co-chair of the Business and Industry Major Group (B&I MG), participated in the HLPF in a variety of ways to bring the private sector perspective to the global summit and put forward concrete ways in which public and private sectors can work together to overcome the pressing challenges of our time and achieve the SDGs.

To ensure that employers and the private sector voices were heard, IOE colleagues in New York and Geneva, as well as IOE members, participated in many events and advocated during the HLPF, to name a few:

• HLPF side events on 7 July – Private sector partnerships and contributions to the SDGs – and 12 July – The private sector as a crucial partner in achieving the 2030 Agenda.
• Awareness-raising campaign for IOE Members: What is the HLPF?
• IOE Migration Challenge was selected as an SDG Good Practice.
• "Business Heroes" was one of 12 selected videos of the 2021 HLPF Virtual Exhibition.

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