Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the promise of a transformative agenda

The adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 represents a landmark achievement that redefined development to integrate environmental, social, and economic objectives and as a universal challenge. It was not only the culmination of the work of determined norm entrepreneurs across decades, many of whom are from the Global South, but also a global consensus on the radical action needed to save the future of humanity. It has been embraced by stakeholders worldwide and generated a multitude of initiatives to respond to the challenges. Nonetheless, the road to implementing the transformational, integrated, and universal 2030 Agenda has met with continued contestation. Politics, power, and vested interests in the status quo have eroded the most transformative ambition of the agenda through weakening of indicators and interpretation of the norms. Focusing on the SDGs' transformative ambition, this chapter connects the work that underpinned the 2030 Agenda's emergence with the continuing challenges of its implementation as a process of norm making and norm evolution.