Shift to a more sustainable world has begun

In 2016, however, we must build on this momentum and secure early implementation.

Governments, for example, must identify and plan for the changes they need to undertake to reach these new goals. They must invest in essential services so that all people can fulfill their potential.

At the international level, we need a UN system that is ready to give countries the support they need. We also need to ensure that exclusive economic decision making forums, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the G20 and other international organizations become more aligned with this new agenda.

In the area of peace and security, we need changes at the UN so that we can become better at preventing conflicts and protecting human rights, before it is too late.

The Sustainable Development Goals also demand action from the private sector. They must align their corporate activities with the essence of the new goals. They can turn their innovation toward finding sustainable development goals solutions, and partner with governments and other key actors to support and finance implementation. This includes the global finance industry which must now embrace the shift. Governments must ensure a framework of regulation and taxation for the private sector that makes it obvious that green investment is not just the best for the environment and the future of mankind, but the best for business too.

Finally, change will not happen without action and pressure from civil society and ordinary people everywhere. Non-governmental organizations need to hold governments to account for the commitments they have made in 2015. Philanthropic foundations need to support causes that are aligned with the sustainable development goals and work more effectively with governments and other actors. And ordinary citizens, young people and others can use the incredible explosion in information technology in recent years to become key drivers of implementation.

If 2015 was a year of incredible breakthroughs, then 2016 must mark the moment when all of us begin to deliver, when we begin to make the transformation needed to a more sustainable and just world.

The author is president of the UN General Assembly.