How can science policy help to deliver the global goals?

The scientific community has helped to generate the momentum behind the sustainable development goals. By linking evidence to policy in timely, thoughtful and sensitive ways, scientists can now contribute to the task of implementation.

A flurry of commitments are being made this year that will shape the world over the next fifteen years, including the agreement of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the UN conference of parties (COP) on climate change in Paris, and the leaders' declaration from the last G7 Summit on phasing out fossil fuels by the end of the century.

Throughout 2015, the sustainable development agenda is high on international and national agendas, creating a window of opportunity. Central to this are the sustainable development goals (SDGs), which were formally endorsed at the United Nations last month. The SDGs provide a positive and inspiring roadmap towards a just and sustainable society. They aim to tackle a wide range of social issues (including poverty, health, education, gender, and inequality) as well as environment and resource issues (such as water, food and energy security, climate change, oceans and biodiversity) in an integrated way. However, more work is required to identify how such ambitious goals can be realised.