The 2023 SDG Summit in September will carry out a comprehensive review of progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and offer guidance on ways forward. The world today remains a long way from the vision that member states signed up for. Progress has been slow and piecemeal, and several goals are backsliding, including on poverty, hunger, health and education, and critical environmental targets show negative trends.

This commentary article argues that more of the same will not bring success by 2030, and that the SDG Summit in 2023 is a vital opportunity to correct the course. Implementation must now better align with the underpinning principles, which need to be properly embedded in policy, institutional and regulatory frameworks.

To achieve this, the authors point to three key areas where there is a need for action: greater use of systems thinking; treating society, economy and the environment together; and connecting SDG action across different locations. The article also sets out 11 proposals for action in these areas.

The SDG Summit is an opportunity to align implementation more strongly with the three principles, argue the authors, and seizing it would not only accelerate progress towards the vision of the 2030 Agenda but also revive confidence that multilateral cooperation can solve urgent, multiple and intertwined global challenges.