Dear Colleagues,

Earlier this week, at the High-level section of the High-Level Political Forum on SDGs in New York, General Assembly president Baerbock ended her speech with a comparison between the SDGs and this year’s football World Cup competition: “It has told us very clearly one thing: to never give up at minute 80.” “One goal at the right moment can change everything. And 17 goals at the same moment can change the world. It is up to us to play the last four years together.”   Well, maybe, and at minute 85 great things can still happen too, but 17 goals is still a bit much to pull off. At the very least, you probably need a thorough change of strategy, given that ‘accelerating’ the SDG agenda isn’t exactly working out. Indeed, the only things ‘accelerating’ for the time being, seem to be (1) AI,  “…. as a technology that simultaneously affects all industries and turbocharges extraction based economic models, including in agriculture, fisheries, and forestry….” (cfr an apt...