©HSC

Hamburg Sustainability Conference (HSC)

The HSC is a new conference format aimed at fostering the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The annual conference is a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Michael Otto Foundation and the City of Hamburg. The first HSC will take place on 7 and 8 October 2024. At the HSC, leading minds from politics, business, science and civil society plan the implementation of joint processes to achieve the SDGs. In times of increasing geopolitical crises, the HSC promotes multilateral exchange, encourages open dialog and aims to strengthen trust in international partnerships. The discussions focus on the design of political frameworks for joint action and the co-creation of breakthroughs to achieve the SDGs. The HSC aims to strengthen the role and responsibility of all stakeholders including the private sector in new sustainability alliances. The programme of the first HSC is clustered around three key issues: First, how can the international financial architecture be reshaped to support sustainability? Second, how to unleash investments for the SDGs? Third, how can transformations be leveraged through resilient food systems, green energy and net zero economies, responsible artificial intelligence and digitalisation, future cities and empowering societies?

As the scientific partner of the HSC, IDOS supports the conference process with its scientific expertise and international networks on key sustainable development issues. IDOS is involved in the co-creation of various sessions and will publish a number of policy briefs on, among others:

  • Multilateral cooperation for sustainable development
  • Unlocking political contexts for sustainability transformations
  • Economic pathways toward sustainable futures
  • Private investments in green hydrogen
  • Sustainable trade
  • Sustainable finance frameworks
  • Human rights due diligence in agricultural production

IDOS will contribute to the effective engagement of the younger generations at the HSC and will bring together young professionals  from both its Managing Global Governance and Shaping Futures programmes to feed perspectives of future generations into the debate about sustainable futures, reflect on the HSC and its key outcomes and provide collective recommendations to the organisers and key stakeholders.

Key publications and events corresponding to the conference topics for 2024

Das Programm der HSC 2024 umfasst drei Themengebiete: Neugestaltung der internationalen Finanzarchitektur, Freisetzung von Investitionen für die SDGs und Transformationen durch widerstandsfähige Nahrungsmittelsysteme, grüne Energie und Netto-Null-Wirtschaft, verantwortungsvolle KI und Digitalisierung, zukünftige Städte und die Stärkung der Gesellschaft.

Die IDOS-Forschung fließt in die Diskussionen der HSC ein. Dazu gehören Veranstaltungen, die Forschung, Praxis und Zivilgesellschaft zusammenbringen, um eine nachhaltige Zukunft mitzugestalten, Policy Briefs und Berichte mit forschungsbasierter Politikberatung sowie anwendungsorientierte wissenschaftliche Arbeiten, die die öffentliche Diskussion über globale Nachhaltigkeit beeinflussen.

1. Reshaping the International Financial Architecture:

How can multilateral financial institutions drive SDG Progress?

Development finance at a turning point: effects and policy recommendations
Berensmann, Kathrin / Sabine Laudage Teles / Christoph Sommer / Yabibal M. Walle (2023)
Discussion Paper (21/2023)

Defaulting on development and climate: debt sustainability and the race for the 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement
Zucker-Marques, Marina / Ulrich Volz / Kevin P. Gallagher (2024)
London, Boston/MA, Berlin: SOAS University of London/Boston University/Heinrich Böll Stiftung

Getting special drawing rights right: opportunities for re-channeling SDRs to vulnerable countries
Zattler, Jürgen (2024)
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) Policy Brief (9/2024)

Prudential net zero transition plans: the potential of a new regulatory instrument
Dikau, Simon / Nick Robins / Agnieszka Smoleńska / Jens van 't Klooster / Ulrich Volz (2024)
in: Journal of Banking Regulation, 1-15

Debt relief by multilateral lenders: why, how and how much?
Zucker-Marques / Ulrich Volz / Kevin P. Gallagher (2023)
London, Boston/MA and Berlin: SOAS University of London, Boston University & Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

Climate-proofing the Global Financial System
Volz, Ulrich (2022)
in: Journal of Globalization and Development Policy 13(1), 1-30

2. Unleashing Investments for SDGs:

How can we co-create frameworks and enable conditions to scale sustainable financial flows?

Greening economies in partner countries: priorities for international cooperation
Altenburg, Tilmann / Pegels, Anna / Böhl, Mauricio (2024)
Policy Brief (2/2024)

Trade and the environment: drivers and effects of environmental provisions in trade agreements
Brandi, Clara / Jean-Frédéric Morin (2024)
Earth System Governance Elements Series, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

The implementation of sustainable finance taxonomy: learning from South African experiences
Lötters-Viehof, Steffen / Sören Hilbrich / Kathrin Berensmann / Giovanna Artmann / Sam Ashman / Theresa Herbold / Agnese Monti / Felix Paffhausen / Stephanie Roigk / Lee-Ann Steenkamp (2023)

German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) Policy Brief (20/2023)

Global stocktake and the SDG mid-term review as opportunities for integration
Hermwille, Lukas / Adis Dzebo / Gabriela Iacobuţă / Wolfgang Obergassel (2023)

in: Nature Climate Change, 13, 1002-1004

Overcoming negative spillover effects: the G20's role in support of global sustainability
Berger, Axel / Leonie Maria Droste / Linda Lütkes / Tabea Waltenberg (2023)

in: Global Solutions Journal 9, 82-89

Aligning climate and sustainable development finance through an SDG lens. The role of development assistance in implementing the Paris Agreement
Iacobuţă, Gabriela / Clara Brandi / Adis Dzebo / Sofia Danaji Elizalde Durón (2022)  

in: Journal of Global Environmental Change (05/2022)

Transitioning to low-carbon economies under the 2030 Agenda: minimizing trade-offs and enhancing co-benefits of climate-change action for the SDGs
Lacobuta, Gabiela / Niklas Höhne / Heleen L. van Soest / Rik Leemans (2021)

in: Sustainability 13(19), 10774

Facilitating sustainable investment to build back better
Berger, Axel / Manjiao Chi / Bernard Hoekman / Makane Moïse Mbengue / Karl P. Sauvant / Matthew Stephenson (2021)

in: Journal of World Trade 5(6), 883 – 894

3. Leveraging Transformations:

How can we strategise, e.g. for sustainable city development amidst rapid urbanization, use AI to accelerate progress in the SDGs, build resilient food systems, reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions through green energy?

International research conference
GLOBAL GOALS 2024 - The Future of the SDGs
Utrecht, The Netherlands, 29.08.2024 - 30.08.2024

Integrated policymaking: Institutional designs for implementing the sustainable development goals (SDGs)
Breuer, Anita / Julia Leininger / Daniele Malerba / Jale Tosun (2023)

in: World Development, 170

Gesund leben auf einer gesunden Erde
Bassen, Alexander / Jörg E. Drewes / Markus Fischer / Sabine Gabrysch / Anna-Katharina Hornidge / Karen Pittel / Hans-Otto Pörtner / Sabine Schlacke / Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann / Anke Weidenkaff (2023)

Hauptgutachten (Juni 2023), Berlin: WBGU – Wissenschaftlicher Beirat der Bundesregierung Globale Umweltveränderungen

Defining a sustainable development target space for 2030 and 2050
van Vuuren, Detlef P. / Caroline Zimm / Sebastian Busch et al. (2022)

in: One Earth 5(2), 142-156

A sustainable development pathway for climate action within the UN 2030 Agenda
Soergel, Bjoern et al. (2021)

in: Nature Climate Change 11 (8), 656–664

Five social science intervention areas for ocean sustainability initiatives
Partelow, S., Schlüter, A., Ban, N.C. et al. A.-K. Hornidge et al. (2023)
Ocean Sustain 2, 24

The global biodiversity framework needs a robust action agenda
Chan, S., Bauer, S., Betsill, M., Biermann, I., Bridgewater, I., Bulkeley, H., Bustamente, M., Deprez, A., Dodds, F., Hoffmann, M., Hornidge, A.K., Hughes, A., Imbach, P., Ivanova, M., Köberle, A., Kok, M., Lwasa, S., Morrison, T., Pörtner, H.O., Sari, A., VanDeveer, S., Vollmer, D., Widerberg, O., Pettorelli, N. (2023)

Nature ecology & evolution, 7, 172-173

Hub: Resilient Food Systems

Food security in times of crisis: an action plan for the G7
Kareem, Olayinka Idowu / Bettina Rudloff / Fabrizio Botti / Lakshmi Lyer / Michael Brüntrup / Jagadish Timsina / David Laborde / Raja Rajendra Timilsina (2023)

T7 Task Force Development and Economic Prosperity, Policy Brief (May 2023)

Analysing the Water-Energy-Food Nexus from a polycentric governance perspective: Conceptual and methodological framework
Srigiri, Srinivasa Reddy / Ines Dombrowsky (2022)

in: Frontiers in Environmental Science, 1-13

Afrikas anschwellende Hungerkrise: Was können G7 und G20 dagegen tun?
Hornidge, Anna-Katharina / Michael Brüntrup (2022)

Welternährung (10/2023)

Governance of the water-energy-food nexus for an integrated implementation of the 2030 Agenda
Srigiri, Srinivasa Reddy / Ines Dombrowsky (2021)

German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) Discussion Paper (2/2021)

Hub: Green Energy & Net Zero

Green hydrogen in Namibia: opportunities and risks
Altenburg, Tilmann / Anne Kantel (2024)

German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) Discussion Paper (6/2024)

Greening economies in partner countries: priorities for International cooperation
Altenburg, Tilmann / Anna Pegels / Mauricio Böhl Gutierrez et al. (2024)

German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) Policy Brief (2/2024)

Green hydrogen for sustainable industrial development. A policy toolkit for developing countries
Fokeer, Smeeta / Jan Sievernich / Andrea Heredia / Emanuele Bianco / Yury Melnikov / Rita Strohmaier / Almudena Nunez / Andreas Stamm (2023)
UNIDO / IRENA / IDOS

Green hydrogen partnerships between the EU and the Southern Mediterranean: challenges and opportunities for coherent and just energy transitions
Aboushady, Nora / Alexia Faus Onbargi (2023)
Barcelona: European Institute of the Mediterranean, Policy Brief (2023)

Germany's Energiewende: synergies, trade-offs and political drivers
Faus Onbargi, Alexia / Ines Dombrowsky (2023)
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) Policy Brief (18/2023)

Hub: Responsible AI & Digitalization

Data extraction, data governance and Africa–Europe Cooperation: a research agenda
Erforth, Benedikt (2024)
in: Megatrends Working Paper 14

Synergising digital public infrastructure and digital commons for sustainable development: the governance of digital resources in India and the EU
Dang, Vy / Aliasger Bootwalla / Eva Maria Lynders / Wulf Reiners (2024)
published on gatewayhouse.in, 28.03.2024

Information integrity and information pollution: vulnerabilities and impact on social cohesion and democracy in Mexico
Breuer, Anita (2024)
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) Discussion Paper (2/2024)

Science and digitalization for a better future
Hornidge, Anna Katharina / Alyssa Jade McDonald-Bärtl / Edgar Pieterse (2023)

in: T7 Task Force Science and Digitalization for A Better Future Issue Paper (May 2023)

Hub: Future cities

IDOS-HSC round table
Urban Mobility: Solutions for Road Safety
Berlin, 14.03.2024

Urban labs beyond Europe: the formation and contextualization of experimental climate governance in five Latin American cities
Roll, Michael / Florencia Almansi / Jorgelina Hardoy / Simone Gatti / Ariadne Samios / Lucas Turmena / Mariana Campos / Gorka Zubicaray (2024)

in: Environment and Urbanization 36(1), 173-194

Urban refugees and digital technology
Martin-Shields, Charles (2024)

Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press

Climate (im)mobility in urban contexts: from recognition to action
Ekoh, Susan S. (2023)

German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) Policy Brief (15/2023)

Coastal urbanities: mobilities, meanings, manoeuvrings
Siriwardane-de Zoysa, Rapti / Kelvin E.Y. Low / Noorman Abdullah / Anna-Katharina Hornidge (eds.) (2022)

Social Sciences in Asia, Band Vol. 42, Leiden: Brill

Hub: Empowering Societies

Why ‘South’/‘North’ framings are not useful in a shifting world order
Hornidge, Anna-Katharina / Axel Berger (2023)

in: CEBRI-Journal, 2(8), 217-237

Governing the interlinkages between the SDGs: approaches, opportunities and challenges
Breuer, Anita / Daniele Malerba / Srinivasa Srigiri / Pooja Balasubramanian (eds.) (2023)

London: Routledge Books

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 16: a governance compass towards just transition?
Balasubramanian, Pooja / Anita Breuer / Julia Leininger / Cameron Allen / Julia Kercher (2022)

German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) Policy Brief (4/2022)

Connections that matter: how does the quality of governance institutions help protect our ocean?
Allen, Cameron / Anita Breuer / Julia Kercher (2023)

Oslo: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in cooperation with German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)

Training civil services on the 2030 Agenda: skills development for working towards the common good
Grimm, Sven / Adriana Plasencia / Pedro Alves (2022)

Brasilia: Escola Nacional de Administração Pública (ENAP)

Embrace multipolarity: Germany must act European for the Global Common Good
Kloke-Lesch, A.dolf, Hornidge, Anna-Katharina.-K. (2022)

Blog 49 Security

Navigating the ‘Zeitenwende’: fostering resilience amidst global crises
Hornidge, A.-K. (2022)

Expert blog, Economist Impact

Contact

Axel Berger
Deputy Director (interim)

E-mail Axel.Berger@idos-research.de
Phone +49 (0)228 94927-112
Fax +49 (0)228 94927-130

Livestream

[Translate to English:]

To the Conference Livestream

 

Conference Website

Hamburg Sustainability Conference, 7-8 October 2024

Click here for more information

Highlight

IDOS contributed, jointly with UNDP, to the HSC Paper that highlights crucial global challenges and signals of change to set the scene for the discussion at the HSC and to stimulate joint action towards sustainable transformation.

 

Highlight

From the Summit of the Future to the Hamburg Sustainability Conference
Hornidge, Anna-Katharina / Axel Berger (2024)
The Current Column of 30 September 2024

Highlight

Greening economies in partner countries: priorities for International cooperation
Altenburg, Tilmann / Anna Pegels / Mauricio Böhl Gutierrez et al. (2024)

Policy Brief (2/2024)

Highlight

Integrated policymaking: Institutional designs for implementing the sustainable development goals (SDGs)
Breuer, Anita / Julia Leininger / Daniele Malerba / Jale Tosun (2023)

in: World Development 170, article 106317