Global Goal Live:
The Possible Dream

The next 18 months will shape the future of humanity - it’s our last best chance to course correct to end extreme poverty, tackle climate change and reduce inequality in time to reach the 2030 goals agreed to by all world leaders in the Global Goals.

We can only course correct if we ensure the Global Goals are fully funded.

Global Citizen and Teneo are working with the United Nations Deputy Secretary General to create a year-long campaign that will culminate on September 25, 2021, with a historic 10-hour global media event.

With major simultaneous events in multiple countries, it will be a global, multi-city moment where the worlds of pop culture, policy, philanthropy, and business will come together to create unprecedented change - addressing the $350 billion a year funding gap to address extreme poverty and climate change in the poorest 59 countries.

In 2015, 193 world leaders came together to agree on the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, a roadmap to end extreme poverty and tackle climate change by 2030. While progress is being made, the world stands on the brink of failure. We have just 18 months to to course correct before it’s too late.

Working alongside and in support of the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development, this campaign will aim to secure $350bn for people and the planet to achieve the Global Goals in the poorest countries. These new funding commitments will fall into the areas of gender equality, human capital, and sustainability.

• Gender Equality: Women and girls continue to make up the majority of the world’s poor and marginalized and are afflicted with some of the harshest aspects of poverty. We are securing commitments for access to essential healthcare and mechanisms for women’s economic empowerment.
• Human Capital: Investing in the potential of a population and its future workforce through the areas of health, education, and nutrition. We are securing commitments for providing life-saving vaccines, investing in children’s education (especially girls), and providing proper nutrition to reduce stunting.
• Sustainability: Improving the environment gives people the opportunity to survive and thrive in a world free of extreme poverty. We are securing commitments to reduce carbon emissions, protect and preserve oceans and fisheries, and enabling farmers to prosper despite climate change.

To achieve these goals, the world needs to invest an additional $350bn a year across four areas:

• Increasing in-country investment and growing government revenues in the 59 countries to unlock at least an additional US$80bn in domestic spend.
• Securing US$68bn a year through increasing and redirecting foreign aid from 13 of the largest and wealthiest economies in the world,
• Changing private sector supply chains, sourcing, and investment in sustainable bonds to unlock an additional US$70bn a year,
• Moving big philanthropy from pledging to giving to raise an additional US$100-150bn a year.

The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Official Policy and Research Advisor for the Global Goal Live campaign -- using official data sets in consultation with the SDG Costing Group (co-chaired by the SDSN, IMF, World Bank and the OECD) -- has assessed that the world’s poorest 59 countries need at least an additional $350bn a year to achieve the Global Goals.

The SDG Costing Group convenes sector experts to aggregate their respective costing models and data for SDG targets, especially for low-income countries. In addition to assessing SDG financing needs, this Group advances quantitative and qualitative research on financing frameworks and tools such as aid flows, tax strategies, philanthropy, and blended finance to meet these needs. The Group builds on the work of several institutions including the IMF, World Bank, and OECD. Its membership includes representatives from 15 multilateral and academic institutions.

Funds committed do not come to Global Citizen.

Global Citizen works with some of the most effective funds and organisations on the planet who implement the programs and initiatives that receive the funding from commitments, such as:

• Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance: has saved 13 million lives and vaccinated 760 million children since 2000. Gavi plans to vaccinate 1.1 billion children and save 22 million lives by the end of 2025 — but if the organization is going to succeed, it needs another $7.4 billion. 
• Global Partnership for Education: has helped get 77 million more children in primary school in 2016 in partner countries compared to 2002, and increased primary school completion rates from 63% to 76% in the same period.
• UNFPA Supplies: the United Nations Population Fund's flagship program is the world's largest provider of family planning services, reaching over 20 million girls & women each year in 46 low-income countries grappling with high maternal death rates, low contraceptive use and growing unmet demand for family planning. In 2018 alone, UNFPA Supplies helped avert 10.4 million unintended pregnancies, 25,000 maternal deaths, 157,000 child deaths and 3.2 million unsafe abortions.  
• Sustainability: To date, the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) has provided US$20.9 billion in low-interest loans and grants that have reached 483 million rural people, empowering them to reduce poverty, increase food security, improve nutrition and strengthen resilience. We will be working with IFAD to mobilize US$10 billion in new investments to support 100 million of the world’s poorest small-scale farmers and producers. This will raise their incomes by 20% and increase food security. 

Global Citizen’s Impact & Accountability team works through a thorough due diligence process that covers a strict criteria, ensuring that for each commitment made:

• the financial value can be externally verified, outside of Global Citizen platforms, 
• we have strong campaign evidence supporting our claims to impact, and
• we have received third party validation from the commitment maker and/ or our partners saying that Global Citizens made a difference in the commitment being made.

Global Citizen then tracks each commitment to ensure implementation and to communicate back to global citizens the impact of their actions. Where a commitment is off track, we will publicly campaign for the commitment maker to follow through on their word.

In addition to the artists participating, we are grateful to our cultural partners:

• Labels: Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment
• Trade organizations: The Recording Academy, the Recording Industry Association of America, IFPI, the National Music Publishers Association, and the International Confederation of Music Publishers
• Production and Promoter Partners: MGM, Live Nation, Diversified Production Services, SM Town, Ken Ehrlich Productions
• Talent agencies: CAA, William Morris, and Paradigm Talent Agency

The Global Goal Live campaign will be carbon neutral.

Global Citizen have partnered with South Pole, the leading corporate climate action advisor, to reduce and offset carbon emissions from the campaign and the events. South Pole will independently certify emissions, and together with Global Citizen will identify impactful projects in areas such as forestry and sustainable agriculture to invest in.

Global Goal Live was initially scheduled to take place on Sept. 26, 2020. However due to the global health pandemic of coronavirus, we decided to delay the event by one year. It will now take place on Sept. 25, 2021. Global Citizen will continue to campaign on achieving the Global Goals, and you can take action with us here.