The objective of this paper was to analyse the emerging scope of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the successor development instrument to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which are scheduled to end by 2015. The top priorities of the stakeholders involved in the processes include poverty eradication, water sanitation, energy, economic growth, green growth, governance, and employment. Current trends appear to favour a progression of the shaping and negotiation process which goes beyond the established MDG goal.