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The author contends that the stall in progress toward the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is due to a failure to address inequality. While 'policy coherence'—the alignment of mutually reinforcing policy actions—is often treated as a technical institutional tool, the document argues that managing the trade-offs and distributional effects of policies is a political act. Without a deliberate focus on reducing inequality, sustainable development policies risk benefiting some groups while marginalizing others, as seen in examples from Sri Lanka's fertilizer ban and Australia's renewable energy transition.