The pace of economic growth has exacerbated the problem of the limited bio-capacity of the planet, and the environmental factor really limits well-being: from reducing life expectancy to natural disasters. Recognition by the world of parity of ecological, economic and social values marked the transition to sustainable development. To date, 193 states have announced the development and implementation of environmental policies in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. The lack of systematic, interconnected development of the regions of the world with major environmental problems, significantly reduces the effectiveness of international environmental policy mechanisms, and ultimately, restrains sustainable development. The strategies, regional programs and other documents on the key millennium goals are weakly linked. 2015 was a significant stage in the world environmental agenda, and was marked by the adoption of the next ambitious Agenda for Sustainable Development for the period until 2030. The main shortcomings of the existing documents in the field of sustainable development goals were not eliminated, and therefore, 2 years later, the UN noted not only insufficient progress for a number of purposes, but also the impossibility of fulfilling some goals in the current trends. The implementation of the sustainable development goals set by the world community under the aegis of the United Nations should lead to major changes and the solution of a number of global problems, not only in the field of environmental protection. The importance of a balanced environmental policy for the implementation of sustainable development objectives determined the scope of the present study. The article considers the main shortcomings of the international environmental policy and measures to overcome them, based on the use of general scientific methods.