On Sept. 25, 2015 the United Nations (UN) established a historic plan entitled “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” which was agreed upon by the 193 Member States of the UN. The Agenda includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), each one addressing a critical world issue. Many of these, such as climate change, poverty, equal rights and quality education, are directly relevant to the field of psychology. Given the effort addressing the SDGs will require, it is important that psychology itself unite as a science and profession and join with other disciplines in order to reach the 2030 objectives.

How formidable is the challenge we are facing?

Recent data suggest it is extraordinary:

• The summer of 2019 was the hottest in history in locations ranging from Anchorage, Alaska to Paris, France.

• As of March of this year, the UN reported that only six countries truly give men and women equal rights.

• In many parts of the world, efforts to achieve global education are literally starting from the ground up due to a lack of classrooms, supplies, trained teachers and opportunities for children with disabilities.

• Progress has been made to end poverty, in that extreme poverty fell from 11% in 2013 to 10% of the world's population by 2015. That progress has, however, slowed and the goal of ending poverty by 2030 has been brought into question.