Objective:
Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations in 2015, these goals have guided development policies and practices around the world. An emerging debate in the academic and political spheres has considered the possibility of creating new SDGs, as there are important areas that are not yet addressed or are insufficiently emphasized in the current framework of the 2030 Agenda. For example, some countries have presented in their Voluntary National Reports proposals for different SDGs according to their domestic political priorities. India has proposed an SDG on local empowerment and rural development, and Costa Rica has proposed SDG 18 on people's happiness and well-being. Brazil joined this club of innovators in September 2023, when President Lula da Silva announced, at the High-Level Political Forum, the voluntary adoption of an eighteenth goal regarding ethnic-racial equality. The international discussion on the horizons of possibilities for a new SDG impacts negotiations and consultations between UN member states for the last years of the agenda and for the construction of the post-2030 Agenda. The debate on the Brazilian experience of SDG 18 of ethnic-racial equality emerges from a need to confront the country's main development problem, that is, structural racism. The year 2024 is critical as it marks the 76th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the final year of the International Decade for People of African Descent. The global analysis is that there has not been enough progress with structural changes in the issue of racial equality. Despite the enormous challenges, we see the Brazilian experience of building an eighteenth SDG as part of a shared effort of the international community against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, as well as to contribute to inclusive sustainable development for persons of all races and ethnicities. The 2030 Agenda and its ramifications for the future of international politics have the potential to become a key instrument in the fight against racism. This roundtable aims to share the Brazilian experience to create a space for debate and methodological and practical reflections on the construction and operationalization of a new SDG within the scope of the 2030 Agenda. It aims to present qualitative aspects present in the concept note and in the proposed goals and indicators to measure progress, emphasizing the process of broad consultation with government, at its different national and subnational levels, civil society and academia. In addition, it emphasizes the interdependencies and synergies between SDG 18 and the other SDGs by problematizing the multidimensionality of inequalities.