Upcoming HLPF to focus on five SDGs out of 17 UN goals

03 / 07 / 2023

By Marwa Nassar - -

The High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) will review in-depth five of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); namely SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation, SDG7 on affordable and clean energy, SDG9 on industry, innovation and infrastructure, SDG11 on sustainable cities and communities, and SDG17 on partnerships for the Goals.

The HLPF serves as an opportunity to prepare for a comprehensive review of progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the SDG Summit in September.

The forum – due to be held from July 10 to 19 – will be under the theme of “Accelerating the recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels”.

In the forum, participants will be able to further discuss the effective and inclusive recovery measures to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and explore actionable policy guidance for the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs at all levels.

During the forum, 40 countries will carry out voluntary national reviews (VNRs) of their implementation of the 2030 Agenda in the forum; namely Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Canada, Central African Republic, Comoros, Chile, Croatia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, European Union, Fiji, France, Guyana, Iceland, Ireland, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Maldives, Mongolia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, St Kitts & Nevis , Syrian Arab Republic , Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, United Republic of Tanzania , Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zambia.

Within this context, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) has developed a set of recommendations on how countries could leverage the power of partnerships and work with voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) to report on SDG progress.

VSSs set requirements for producing, selling, and purchasing products responsibly. Recent research has shown that VSS and SDG targets often overlap, particularly for SDGs 2, 6, and 17—all of which will be in the HLPF’s spotlight this year or next.