The global COVID-19 pandemic and an unexpected recession of dangerous proportions have provided strong reasons to look at the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from three perspectives: The SDGs as a victim of the 2020 recession; the SDGs as an opportunity for better coordination on the way out of the recession; and the SDGs as an object of modernization for better adaptation to the realities "on the world stage". The BRICS countries are interested in developing and implementing the SDGs on a global scale as a way to catch up. The authors propose a "pandemic protocol", as well as a change in the methodology for including indicators in the SDGs: the introduction of new indicators that are important for sustainability and the incorporation of cross-cutting key indicators for the SDGs, both new and existing.