The 2030 Agenda is a kind of road map for us; it shows how to create a sustainable and prosperous world. A world free of ‘poverty, hunger, diseases, hardship, fear and violence’- the goals of the Agenda are ambitious and not easy to reach. They constitute a vision, an image of the future of our world which we want to turn into reality.
To achieve this aim, cooperation and partnerships are necessary. Countries work together closely in order to be able to reach these goals. At the same time, it is important that states maintain their sovereignty, i.e. their independence and their right to self-determination. The principle of sovereignty is a core principle of the UN. Therefore, every state can decide on its own which measures it wants to take in order to approach the goals of the 2030 Agenda. Hence, the 2030 Agenda does not oblige any country to implement certain measures and no country is accused or penalized for not doing so.

The Sustainable Development Goals are divided into ‘goals’ and ‘targets’. There are 17 goals. For each of them, there is a whole range of targets – 169 in total. These targets show which steps need to be taken to reach the specific goal. Some targets are substantive; others are implementation measures, which mostly refer to already existing institutions.

Even though every UN member state negotiated and signed the 2030 Agenda, it is not a legally binding document under international law. However, the countries agreed upon a ‘periodic review’ of their advancements. The concrete implementation of the agenda is the responsibility of each individual state. Civil society has the task to continuously remind the government of this responsibility and to point out harmful political decisions.
In Germany, the national government passed an updated version of the German Sustainable Development Strategy on the 11th of January ’17, which is seen as the German contribution to the 2030 Agenda. But it is not only on a national level that there are implementation plans.
For example, in 2016 Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine Westphalia) was the first federal state with a sustainable development strategy which was completely oriented according to the SDGs, and more and more cities and communities are acting based on the 2030 Agenda. It is only on the level of the European Union that thus far there have been no strategies for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

There is already a lot happening in Germany and a variety of projects and programs exist which deal with the 2030 Agenda. Often, they stand alone and are not sufficiently connected. It is important that actors see the big picture, build a network of cooperation and thus bring other, non-active parties on board. The implementation of the SDGs is a task for every actor of society. Economic actors have to and will participate as much as civil society and scientific institutions. The responsibility to create a common framework lies with politics. It is desirable to include all ministries to the same extent and shape their policies accordingly. The media could help increase the awareness of the 2030 Agenda and include it in the public debate.