Between 2001-2015, I had the great honor to be Special Advisor to the UN Secretaries-General Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), aimed at fighting extreme poverty, hunger and disease. I now have the great privilege of continuing in this role as Special Advisor to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). During this time, I have felt enormously encouraged by two factors—the revolution in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the remarkable corporate leadership being shown by companies like Ericsson which is paving the way for a new Information Age.

ICT...

The new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), set out a shared global agenda for human development that is fair, inclusive and sustainable. Far more ambitious than the Millennium Development Goals, they call for several bold breakthroughs by the year 2030, including the end of extreme poverty (SDG 1) and hunger (SDG 2), universal health coverage (SDG 3), universal secondary education (SDG 4), universal access to modern energy services (SDG 7), sustainable cities (SDG 11), combating climate change (SDG 13), and protecting marine (SDG 14) and terrestrial (SDG 15) ecosystems.¹⁰

Meeting these ‘stretch’ goals will require a transformation of societies far deeper...

Adopted by world leaders at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 associated targets to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030. Also known as the Global Goals, the SDGs build on eight anti-poverty targets—Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—that the world committed to achieving by 2015. The new SDGs go much further to address the root causes of poverty and universal need for development that works for all. In addition to ongoing development priorities such as poverty...

In the ambitious plan to eliminate poverty and hunger, protect the planet, combat inequalities and build peaceful, just and inclusive societies over the next 15 years, accurate data to monitor progress will be essential.

In March 2015, the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) established an Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDGs (IAEG-SDGs²⁷) composed of Member States and including regional and international agencies as observers, to propose a global framework for indicators.

In March 2016, the UNSC agreed on a global indicator framework²⁸ comprising 231 indicators to help monitor progress, identify challenges, and guide policymakers. The data will also provide the...

Globally, the most widely used means of accessing the Internet is through mobile networks and a mobile device. In a Business-As-Usual scenario Ericsson forecasts that by 2021, the world’s mobile networks will constitute a technology base with the capability to provide Internet access to 7.2 billion people, or 92 percent of the global population. The rapid uptake and evolution of mobile technology as well as the declining cost of smartphones, particularly in developing countries, are expected to be the key drivers of this dramatic increase in access to the Internet.

Today almost half of the world population lacks access to...

In order to measure progress towards the achievement of the SDGs, comprehensive and accurate monitoring of how citizens are being accounted for across the 17 targets is critical. The challenge is that an estimated 1.5 billion people lack proof of identification, and are ‘missing’ from government registries.

A number of leading global institutions have highlighted that identification underpins many of the SDGs and is a prerequisite for success. Without proof of identification, a citizen’s right to vote, open a bank account, go to school or access essential health services such as vaccinations can be prohibitively difficult. Achieving gender equality, good...

Financial inclusion is an important driver for attaining the SDGs. Universal financial access can reduce poverty (SDG 1) through employment and income-generating business opportunities (SDG 8), including for small and medium enterprises (SDG 9). Availability of financial services such as credit, savings and insurance can provide greater security for people during crises due to natural disasters, financial crisis or political turmoil (SDG 10). With higher income, families can invest in education (SDG 4) and health (SDG 3) and, end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition (SDG 2) and promote sustainable agriculture, as mobile payments can enable access to water...

SDG 4 sets out a bold education agenda with the aim of ensuring “that all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education.” It is supported by targets calling for:

Target 4.1: All girls and boys to have access to quality early childhood development

Target 4.2: Equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational, and tertiary education

Target 4.3: That all youth and a substantial proportion of adults achieve literacy and numeracy

Target 4.6: A substantial increase in the supply of qualified teachers

SDG 4 extends beyond the Millennium Development Goals’...

SDG 3: ‘Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages’ not only targets access to basic health, but acknowledges that health means enjoying wellbeing throughout one’s life. It aims for an inclusive health delivery system in which neither location, income, race nor gender represent barriers for quality access to healthcare and wellbeing.¹⁵⁵

Its 13 targets build on progress made under the MDGs and reflect a new focus on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and the achievement of universal health coverage. While SDG 3 is specifically focused on health, almost all the SDGs are directly related to health or will...

SDG 7, to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all,” recognizes the crucial importance of universal access to sustainable energy and the de-carbonization of energy consumption. SDG 7 encompasses targets for universal energy access (target 7.1), renewable energy growth (target 7.2), energy efficiency improvements (target 7.3), international cooperation in sustainable energy infrastructure development (target 7.a), and technology upgrades and expansion of energy systems (target 7.b).

SDG target 7.1 recognizes that provision of energy access is critical for social and economic progress and calls for “universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services.” Energy access enables...

The role of ICT in the SDG era (2016-2030) will evolve rapidly for two reasons. First, ICT will increasingly transform society, including governments, industry, institutions and organizations, and civil society. It will also affect the provision of every type of public service. Second, the underlying technologies themselves will continue to evolve swiftly, making way for breakthrough capabilities. Four issues in particular demonstrate the possibilities presented by new technologies:

Internet of Things (IoT): there are already 400 million cellular IoT subscriptions, forecast to reach some 28 billion connected devices worldwide by 2021.²⁷⁵ The IoT will be a rich platform for innovation...

The SDGs represent a complex, global-scale problem-solving exercise that cuts across all sectors of the economy and engages every country and region of the world. The world has adopted the SDGs: we must now deploy all tools available—especially the accelerated uptake of ICT—to act on our commitment and deliver on the SDGs for the benefit of present and future generations.

As well as outlining the incredible potential of ICT to drive disruptive progress against the goals, this report showcases the many practical barriers that remain to effective large-scale implementation of e-health, m-health, mobile commerce, e-education, smart energy and...

ICT, and especially mobile broadband, will be the essential infrastructure platform for the SDGs. Technological development of ICT is in line with earlier technology breakthroughs like steam engines, electricity and the combustion engine.

Paragraph 15 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development notes that ICT “has great potential to accelerate human progress, to bridge the digital divide and to develop knowledge societies” and Target 9.c and 17.8 call on SDG partners to “significantly increase access to information and communications technology and to strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020.”²⁹²

Building on...