The world is off track. That is the uncomfortable truth. Eight years ago. we adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Denmark had just assumed the presidency of the General Assembly. The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was a proud moment, not just for Denmark, but for all of us — a historic moment at which we. the United Nations, launched a transformational agenda.
Today we urgently need transformational action on a massive scale. We need to get the SDGs back on track. We need to fast-track the green transition and accelerate climate adaptation, and we need to revitalize multilateralism and bring the United Nations and other institutions of global governance firmly into the twenty-first century.
Those are immense tasks, but they are neither impossible nor optional. It is the duty of our generation to get the world back on track, to break the vicious circle of distrust and division that is undermining our ability to act collectively and to replace that vicious circle with trust and solidarity, as highlighted in the overarching theme for this year’s General Assembly. Trust is not built on the promises that we give. It is built on the promises that we keep.
Halfway to 2030. only 15 per cent of the Sustainable Development Goals are on track to being realized. The rest are only progressing slowly, or even moving in the wrong direction. This year we celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and today it is as relevant as ever. The SDGs seek to realize the human rights of all. Yet human rights are under pressure around the globe. That is not least true for women and girls — more than half of the world’s population.
For the first time in a generation, extreme poverty is increasing. Hunger levels are surpassing those of a decade ago. while climate shocks are hitting those most vulnerable at an accelerating speed. More than 360 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance worldwide.
All Governments have a responsibility to prioritize the SDGs at home. But. for some countries, that is easier said than done. According to the Secretary-General, developing countries need a staggering $3.9 trillion between now and 2030 in order to achieve the Goals. To bridge that gap it is necessary for others to help. It is our shared responsibility.
For more than 40 years. Denmark has met the United Nations target of providing at least 0.7 per cent of gross national income for development assistance, and we continually encourage other rich countries to also prioritize that target. But. even if we all lived up to the 0.7 per cent United Nations target, it would still cover only 10 per cent of the financing gap. It is simply not enough. We need to find new. innovative ways to finance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to realize the goals of the Paris Agreement on
Climate Change by mobilizing domestic as well as international resources, including private capital.
This year. Denmark is increasing its grant-based climate financing to the highest-ever level — $745 million, of which approximately 60 per cent will be allocated for adaptation. Next year, we will double our contribution to the Green Climate Fund to approximately $234 million. We are also increasing our support to the Danish Development Finance Institution, enabling it to triple its annual contribution to climate financing in developing countries, from $300 million today to approximately $900 million towards 2030. This year. Denmark, a country with a population of just below 6 million people, expects to contribute more than 1 per cent of the $100 billion target. We expect our share to be even higher next year. For Denmark, delivering on our promises is a matter of assuming global responsibility, as well as showing international solidarity.
To mobilize financing for development and climate action, we also need to better leverage the enormous potential of the international financial institutions. The development banks, including the World Bank, must raise not billions, but trillions of dollars for climate action and the SDGs.
Growing burdens of debt are keeping struggling economies at a deadlock. A new creditor landscape is challenging existing mechanisms for debt treatment. That is a challenge that we need to tackle together as a global community and with the constructive engagement of all creditors. Denmark is deeply engaged in those efforts. We will be pushing for the highest ambitions at the upcoming annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Marrakesh, as well as at the twenty-eighth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28).
The international financial architecture must be revisited. Who decides? Who benefits? Is it fair? Is it working? That is a conversation that we need to have. The international financial architecture must reflect the world of today, rather than the world of yesterday.
The climate emergency is worsening. The year 2023 is on track to become the warmest year ever recorded. Unless we do something dramatic, the extremes of today will soon become the new normal. Denmark is urging the world’s biggest emitters to reduce their carbon emissions, phase out fossil fuels and commit to renewable energy.
At the same time, we need to significantly scale up our efforts to adapt to climate change and address climate-induced loss and damages. Despite having contributed the least to climate change, it is the poorest and most vulnerable parts of the world that suffer the most devastating consequences.
We need to make COP28 the turning point in overcoming that global injustice. As stated in the African leaders’ Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action, no country should ever have to choose between development aspirations and climate action. We agree. The fact is that it no longer makes sense to talk about sustainable development without factoring in climate change. We are wasting valuable time and limited resources if we do not integrate our efforts for sustainable development and climate action.
We are off track and. to get back on track, we also need to look at the core institutions of our multilateral sy stem and bring them into our time. The world de serve s a more representative, transparent and accountable Security Council, one that is better equipped to address global challenges. The Security Council needs to better reflect the global realities, as well as the desires, needs and concerns of people all over the world. That includes limiting the use of the veto, also through voluntary restraint and enhanced accountability vis-a-vis the General Assembly. Denmark has been, and will continue to be. actively engaged in that discussion.
To improve and strengthen our collective ability to prevent conflict and sustain peace, we need a new approach. The Secretary-General’s New Agenda for Peace is a timely contribution to that debate. Denmark welcomes its call for a renewed focus on conflict prevention and peace-building. As a current member of the Peace-building Commission and a major donor to the Peace-building Fund, we know that it is one of the most valuable and efficient tools in the United Nations tool box. Next year’s Summit of the Future — and the process leading up to it — is a timely opportunity to move the discussions on that and other reform issues forward, based on the Secretary General’s proposal in Our Common Agenda (A/75/982).
Trust in multilateral cooperation is based on universal respect for the rules that underpin it and on accountability for violations of those rules. Russia’s blatant disrespect of the most fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations, including the principle of territorial sovereignty, is a tragedy for
the United Nations. It is a look into a brutal world in which international law has lost respect among nations and might is right. The war is not just an unspeakable tragedy for the people of Ukraine. It has devastating effects for the people around the world suffering under food shortages and other global consequences of that senseless war.
Denmark supports all meaningful efforts to stop Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. We stand firmly with Ukraine and its Charter-based right to defend its territory, and we support President Zelenskyy’s peace formula for a just peace. We encourage all countries to do the same. Denmark seeks full accountability for Russia’s unlawful war of aggression against Ukraine. That includes responsibility for crimes under international law. as well as reparations. Ensuring that Russia and its representatives are held to account is the shared responsibility of us all. as members of the United Nations.
We take hope in the fact that, following Russia’s attack against Ukraine and against the United Nations Charter, we have seen overwhelming support for the Charter among States Members of the United Nations. We must build on that. We have no choice. The major problems of our time are interlinked, and their solutions are interlinked as well. We can solve the problems of our time only through international cooperation. We must not allow the irresponsible behaviour of one Member State to derail and destroy our collective efforts to find common solutions to shared problems.
Yesterday Denmark was proud to sign the landmark High Seas Treaty that we adopted earlier this year. The Treaty provides legally binding instruments for protecting and safeguarding the health of our oceans — a task that is vital to advancing SDG 14. It also holds tremendous symbolic value. It shows that, despite growing tensions and divisions, we can still come together and find common ground.
At a time when positive news is hard to come by. that is very encouraging. Keeping that in mind. Denmark will do its part to create tangible results, compromises and solutions at the seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly that stands before us. That is the spirit of cooperation that we want to bring to the United Nations and that we hope to bring to the Security Council in 2025 and 2026. We believe that such a spirit of cooperation will bring the world back on track.