How do the goals, targets and indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) serve as governance instruments in efforts to achieve the SDGs by 2030? This perspective addresses this question in three sections. First, it develops an account of how we should understand governance for the SDGs that highlights the role of targets and indicators, but also institutions and norms, in this model of ‘soft’ governance. Second, it then offers a brief assessment of how the SDGs have worked as governance innovation since 2015, highlighting changes in the infrastructure of the SDGs and some national contexts, but also limitations. This section also considers the place of national ownership as a principle, integral to the SDGs, which constrains the transformative potential of the goals and targets. A final section considers how elements and mechanisms of SDG governance might be developed further. It points toward the importance of scaling up pockets of innovation and goal achievement across jurisdictions and levels of governance, while raising questions about expectations for SDG achievement beyond 2030.

可持续发展目标 (SDG) 的目标、具体目标和指标如何作为到 2030 年实现 SDG 的治理工具？本观点分三个部分解决了这个问题。首先，它阐述了我们应该如何理解可持续发展目标的治理，强调目标和指标以及制度和规范在这种“软”治理模式中的作用。其次，它随后简要评估了自 2015 年以来可持续发展目标如何作为治理创新发挥作用，强调了可持续发展目标基础设施和一些国家背景的变化，但也强调了局限性。本节还将国家自主权视为一项原则，是可持续发展目标不可或缺的一部分，它限制了目标和具体目标的变革潜力。最后一节考虑了如何进一步发展可持续发展目标治理的要素和机制。它指出了扩大跨司法管辖区和治理层级的创新和目标实现的重要性，同时提出了对 2030 年以后实现可持续发展目标的期望的问题。