US billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates will launch an "Our Global Goals" partnership with the Japan Sports Agency in an effort to achieve the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by promoting them through the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the world's second-richest person, has devoted much of his time in recent years to his family foundation, which aims to help reach the SDG objectives, including ending extreme poverty and combating climate change by 2030.

At an event in Tokyo last week, Gates said he was linking up with an Olympic Games for the first time to use it as a way to increase awareness of the SDGs and also urged Japan to become a world leader in aid and development.

The initiative has become an official Tokyo 2020 Olympics program.

"Countries like Japan will need to continue to invest generously, actually even more generously than they currently are," Gates said.

"The sports community in Japan is fast approaching an exciting moment, as the eyes of the world will be on Tokyo as the Olympics get nearer."  

 Gates planned to launch the program in 2019 as the buildup to the Games intensified.

"The whole world loves sports and we have to be creative in how we take those amazing achievements and use that to remind people that there are some who are facing big challenges."