In June 1992, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, more than 178 countries adopted Agenda 21. This is a plan of action to build a global partnership for sustainable development to improve people's quality of life and the health of the planet. The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization that brings countries together with the aim of achieving international cooperation on pressing world issues such as international peace and security, development and the environment.

As a result of Agenda 21, in the Year 2000, the UN member states adopted the The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of 8 goals aimed at tackling extreme poverty by 2015. These goals were subsequently replaced by 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will run until 2030.

You can learn more about the goals here:

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/