sdg2030 Series

“As part of its follow-up and review mechanisms, the 2030 Agenda encourages member states to “conduct regular and inclusive reviews of progress at the national and sub-national levels, which are country-led and country-driven” (paragraph 79). These national reviews are expected to serve as a basis for the regular reviews by the HLPF. As stipulated in paragraph 84 of the 2030 Agenda, regular reviews by the HLPF are to be voluntary, state-led, undertaken by both developed and developing countries, and shall provide a platform for partnerships, including through the participation of major groups and other relevant stakeholders.” The United Nations

The HLPF is the main United Nations platform on sustainable development, and it has a central role in the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the global level.

In support of those ambitions, Stakeholder Forum aims to produce – at times with partners – a series of think-pieces and knowledge-enhancing papers in the coming months and years. If you or your organization would like to partner with us, please make contact at [email protected], and include ‘sdg2030 Series’ in the subject line.


SDG 2030 Series Report No. 4 is Enhancing Governance to Help Address Vulnerable Groups – Building Back Betteredited by Rene Marker-Katz and Cameron McBroom-Fitterer, Water Institute at the University of North Carolina, and Re-Energize DR3.

Issue 4 is the transcript of a webinar that was one of the official side events scheduled during the 2022 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, designed to link the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) agenda discussed at the 7th Global Platform to the 2022 High-level Political Forum’s theme of “Building back better from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” A link to the webinar recording found on the Stakeholder Forum YouTube channel.


SDG 2030 Series Report No. 3 is Stakeholder Engagement Overview and Guide by Elisabeth Butler, the Water Institute at the University of North Carolina.

This third in the series recognizes the emergence of ‘stakeholder democracy’ as a vital approach to both policy development and multi-stakeholder partnership for helping to deliver global agreements – in particular the Sustainable Development Goals, also known as the Global Goals.

The stakeholder concept came from the 1992 Earth Summit process, where for the first time it enabled nine unique stakeholder voices to be heard.  In 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, agreed to by UN Member states, added several additional stakeholder groups.

The reality is that any engagement with stakeholders around policy – or for developing a partnership – should always start by mapping out the relevant stakeholders. This new publication adopts the point of view that a relevant stakeholder is any stakeholder that is impacted by a decision or can impact a decision.

Stakeholder Forum itself was established after the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, as both a national multi-stakeholder platform in the United Kingdom, and then expanded in 2000 as a global multi-stakeholder platform that engages in major UN events and processes.


SDG 2030 Series Report No. 2 is ‘Financing for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement: The UN Ecosystem of Initiatives on Private Sector Finance’

On July 13, 2021, on the virtual sidelines of the 2021 United Nations High-level Forum on Sustainable Development in New York – the HLPF, Stakeholder Forum and New World Frontiers held an HLPF ‘Pop-up’ Side Event to launch a new paper:

Financing for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement: The UN Ecosystem of Initiatives on Private Sector Finance

About the paper:

This timely paper is an overview of the UN Ecosystem of Initiatives on the private sector finance role in helping to finance the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. The delivery of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has been estimated by several organizations, from the World Bank to the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, to be in the region of US$3-$5 trillion annually. This dwarfs the contribution from Overseas Development aid, which is in the region of US$150 billion annually.

The financing for the SDGs and the Paris Agreement will need a refocusing of private sector finance. In that context, this paper explores the state of the UN ecosystem of initiatives on private sector finance in support of this.

The realignment of private sector finance to support sustainable development and to stop funding activities that take us in the wrong direction has accelerated since the 2012 Rio+20 conference, the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (2015), the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, and the Paris Agreement.

2021 has seen action on fossil fuel company boards where, recently, three directors committing to move them towards renewables (EXXON-Mobile) have been elected. And a Netherlands court ruled that the Royal Dutch Shell company needs to slash its greenhouse gas emissions. Moody’s estimated in 2019 that the total green bond market was heading to $250 billion with the COVID recovery packages being built around green technology; this is going to increase substantively in the coming years.

A recording of that side event can be found here.  The presentations, a single PDF file, here.

SDG 2030 Series Report No. 1 is ‘The Future of the High-level Political Forum: Fit for Purpose?’

The future of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) has been a matter of debate since it was created out of Rio+20, and before the negotiations for the Sustainable Development Goals. The resolution establishing the HLPF (UNGA resolution A/67/L.72, adopted on 9 July 2013) agreed to review it, and one such review was due in 2020.  This has now been moved to the autumn of 2021.

This report, a summary of the ideas presented during the 13 July 2020 ‘Pop-up Side Event’ at the 2020 HLPF: ‘Lessons from the Proposal for a Sustainable Development Council for the UN General Assembly (from Rio+20) for the Future of the High-level Political Forum,’ captures the inputs from the speakers and respondents from the ‘Pop-Up’ event, all of whom were active during Rio+20 and the creation of the HLPF.  You can view a recording of the launch event here.

You can also download the report: SDG 2030 Series Report No 1 The Future of the High-level Political Forum-Fit for Purpose (Sept 2020)