Sustainable Development

In 2015, the UN adopted a new and potentially transformative agenda for the organisation. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development containing 17 Sustainable Development Goals (or “Global Goals”) on, inter alia, poverty reduction, education, gender, health and the fight against climate change, as well as the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing this new agenda. Denmark strongly supports the 2030 Agenda. Key Danish priorities in developing the Agenda were sustainable energy, gender equality and women's rights, as well as quality education. These priorities are now reflected as independent goals. In the discussions on financing, Danish priorities were a reaffirmation of the UN objective that the developed countries should provide at least 0.7 per cent. of GNI in development assistance. The promotion of responsible private investment to sustainable development and poverty reduction are other key Danish priorities in the new Agenda

For the UN development system to be able to support the implementation of the new Global Goals, the system must be set up right. Under the slogan "Fit for Purpose", Denmark, alongside other Member States, participates in discussions on the necessary changes, their design and the way to integrate the Agenda in the work of the organisations and agencies of the UN system. Denmark wants greater predictability in UN organizations’ financing structures, as well as a greater integration of humanitarian assistance, peace and stabilization-related and developmental efforts.

Denmark furthermore works for the spread and consolidation of the human rights-based approach to development, adopted at the UN in 2003. This approach also forms the basis for Denmark's own development cooperation. It is vital that the UN remains focused on implementing the principles of a human rights-based approach to development, and that efforts made by the UN funds and programs contribute to promoting human rights.

At the Danish UN–mission, we work to promote these issues partly in the negotiations of the some 40 resolutions adopted annually by the General Assembly, as well as in other relevant fora, including the boards of UN funds and programs: UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women