Beyond 2030: Forging Alliances for the Future of Global Sustainability

Event Type
HSC High-level roundtable

Location / Date
Hamburg, 30.06.2026

Organizer

German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Southern Voice, Monash University

Five years before the 2030 Agenda’s deadline, only 35% of the goals are on track to be reached by 2030 or show at least moderate progress. While the global community is falling short in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – facing multiple crises, a deteriorating geopolitical environment and deep structural deficiencies – support for ambitious sustainability transformations is declining in key countries. Against this challenging backdrop, it can be considered a success that UN member states were able to adopt the Pact for the Future with a significant majority. In this Pact, UN member states committed to “turbocharge” implementation of the 2030 Agenda and to begin planning, at the 2027 SDG Summit, how to advance sustainable development beyond 2030 “as a priority and at the centre of our work”.

With the end of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development approaching in 2030, the future of the SDGs “until and beyond 2030”, as the Pact for the Future states, is a core topic of the Hamburg Sustainability Conference (HSC), a global conference aiming to push solutions and alliances for sustainability. When the HSC 2026 takes place, slightly more than a year will remain until the SDG Summit in September 2027. Discussions across policy circles, academia, and civil society are already starting to draw lessons from the past ten years of SDG implementation and to explore potential paths for what should follow the SDGs. Debates are at this stage emerging in a rather ad hoc and uncoordinated manner, including among actors supportive of a universal and integrated agenda, actors promoting more technocratic approaches – and actors actively dismissing the idea of a global sustainability agenda altogether. It is therefore crucial to use the HSC as a platform to bring together high-level actors from different regions and income groups with the potential to serve as norm entrepreneurs representing governments, international organisations, business, civil society and academia.

The session will bring key global actors together to enable early conversations, build momentum for the 2027 SDG Summit, and reflect on narratives and partnerships for an inclusive, effective future global development framework.

Thematic focus

Next steps in the preparations for a global sustainability framework beyond 2030

The session brings together approx. 35 high-level participants representing governments, international organisations, business, civil society and academia that have the potential to act as supporters of a beyond-2030 global sustainability framework. The strengthening of Global South perspectives in international sustainable development debates is a key aim of the session. The session explores the narratives and partnerships needed to advance a sustainable futures agenda until and beyond 2030. It seeks to generate new and channel existing momentum among key like-minded actors – as “fellow travellers” – in support of a successful preparatory process for the SDG Summit in September 2027. The session is informed by the following outcomes:

  • The results of a mapping exercise conducted by IDOS, drawing on a fact-finding roundtable in spring 2026, complemented by interviews, literature review and online research, to map the interests and strategies of key countries;
  • Southern Voice survey on the beyond-2030 framework, exploring priorities and insights from the Global South;
  • A series of regional roundtables in Africa, Asia and Latin America led by Southern Voice on the future of development cooperation.

Building on this preparatory work, which will be shared ahead of the HSC, the session aims to conclude with concrete steps for strategic action to support a trust-based, inclusive, and effective policy process towards the 2027 SDG Summit.

The co-organisers of this session are committed to connecting this convening with their key initiatives and using their networks to organise follow-up activities to ensure an inclusive, action-oriented and science-based beyond-2030 discussion with a view to key events in 2027: HSC 2027, the UN High-Level Political Forum (July 2027) and the SDG Summit (September 2027).

Guiding questions

The following guiding questions will structure the conversation:

Narrative: What fundamentally different narratives could generate political will, especially among governments sceptical of multilateral sustainability commitments, and incentivise them to engage seriously in negotiating a beyond-2030 framework?

  1. Partnerships: Who needs to be at the table – and who is currently missing – to make a 2027 negotiation mandate politically achievable and substantively ambitious? What partnerships are needed to support an ambitious beyond-2030 framework within the UN and beyond?

Objectives

  1. Develop a common understanding of the narratives and partnerships needed for an ambitious global sustainability framework beyond 2030.
  2. Initiate a mapping exercise to identify potential allies and fellow travellers from different sectors and regions.
  3. Identify concrete actions to create momentum for an ambitious follow-up agenda.

Outputs

Drawing on these inputs, the session aims to identify key narratives for a post-2030 agenda, map like-minded partners, and initiate coordinated action towards the 2027 SDG Summit. Follow-up activities will support an inclusive, action-oriented and science-based process aligned with key milestones, including the UN High-Level Political Forum, HSC 2027 and the SDG Summit.

Hinweis

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