This is a chapter I co-authored with my colleagues at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures published on the Europa Directory of International Organizations 2022 edition. Below is its abstract.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a global blueprint for pursuing improved human development within environmental constraints, adopted in 2015 by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. At the turn of the 21st century the international community came together to establish a new global developmental framework. Building on the Millennium Declaration, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) consolidated global development efforts around various goals and targets intended to improve human capabilities and to be achieved by 2015. In September 2000 189 countries participating in a Millennium Summit held at the UN’s New York headquarters signed onto the UN Millennium Declaration, pledging their commitment to achieve eight broad development goals by 2015. At the time, the MDGs represented the most comprehensive global development agenda ever created. The SDGs responded to criticisms of the MDGs primarily by adding more goals, more targets, and more indicators.