Britain faces multiple global crises – but this government is ignoring them

With the climate crisis displacing more than 20 million people each year and threatening to double the number of people requiring humanitarian assistance to over 200 million annually by 2050, it’s impossible to understand how, or why, the net zero pledge has not been a priority for every Tory leadership candidate.

The policy to emit no more greenhouse gases than we absorb by 2050 should be a cornerstone of government, not an afterthought, and yet it’s just one of many global crises the UK is failing to address.

This is a far cry from 2015, when the UK led the way on building a more sustainable and equitable world for all by signing up to the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), which cover everything from the climate crisis to extreme poverty, gender inequality, and human rights abuses.

The deadline to deliver these SDGs is 2030, but a new report from civil society organisations in the UK has found that the government’s progress on all 17 goals is either stalling or going backwards. If we don’t act now, we will break our international agreement – putting millions of lives at risk and undermining our global reputation. The next prime minister cannot let this happen. 

The stakes couldn’t be higher: this year, an additional 95 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty. We are also witnessing the highest number of conflicts since the Second World War, with two billion people living in conflict-affected countries in 2020 – a figure that will only increase with the war in Ukraine, creating one of the largest refugee crises of modern times.

These converging crises affect us all, regardless of wealth, privilege or location. The pandemic has shown us how connected we are across regions, borders and cultures. We are facing common threats, with food and fuel prices rising and the global economy slowing down as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, new Covid variants, vaccine inequity, rising inflation, major supply-chain disruptions and unsustainable debt in low-income countries.

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As chair of the International Development Committee, which scrutinises the work of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, I’m deeply concerned by the government’s lack of urgency. Our recent report on food insecurity revealed that it doesn’t appear to have a plan to tackle the catastrophic worldwide hunger crisis – despite nearly 50 million people in 43 countries being on the brink of famine.

Yet with its knowledge, expertise and convening power, the UK could play a key role in tackling these crises. To ensure that we do, the next prime minister must move beyond the rhetoric of the old government and do something transformational. This starts with putting the SDGs at the heart of policymaking, regularly reporting to the UN on progress, and engaging with civil society, academia, the private sector, local government and activists to collectively implement the 2030 agenda, in the UK and around the world.

We stand on the precipice of a critical moment. Either we do nothing and fail the millions of people this country has promised to support, or we turbo-charge our efforts on the SDGs and turn the dream of a fairer and more sustainable world into reality.

“The UK’s Global Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals 2022” – a report by Bond, the UK network of international development organisations – is published 19 July