In September 2015, the General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDGs are a call for action by all countries to address prevailing inequalities while protecting the planet. These goals provide a framework with targets and relevant indicators which can be followed by governments, businesses, civil society and the general public to work together to build a better future for everyone. The Decade of Action calls for accelerating sustainable solutions to all the world’s biggest challenges — ranging from poverty and gender to climate change, inequality and closing the finance gap. There is a need to mobilize actors from all levels/ spheres of action-global, regional, national, sub-national, community, organizations, and individuals.

Prior to COVID-19 pandemic, progress in achieving SDG-linked targets was being made in many aspects, albeit not at the speed or scale required. But the global health crisis has either put a stop, or worse, has undone much of this progress. The pandemic has shown that a health crisis has quickly exposed the fault lines in our existing systems and can trigger a human and socio-economic crisis. While the crisis is imperilling progress towards the SDGs, it also makes their achievement more urgent and necessary. It becomes extremely necessary to act towards the achievement of these goals while engaging agents of change. Against this background, TERI is preparing the SDG Charter, which will seek to engage policymakers through research and outreach.

Theory of Change

If through ‘SDG Charter’, TERI and Act4Earth partners contribute to more inclusive and ambitious policy frameworks, then the priorities on sustainable development are kept high on the government agendas which will lead to green recovery policies and actions that enhance environmental, social and economic outcomes to build back better.

Initiative	Potential Themes	Activities	Outputs
SDG Charter	Sustainable consumption and SDG 12	Research Outreach and Engagement	Policy briefs Policy dialogues
	Inclusive energy transitions and SDG 7