Held from Monday 18 September to Tuesday 19 September under the auspices of the President of the General Assembly, the 2023 SDG Summit aimed to spark the beginning of a new phase of accelerated progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with high-level political guidance on transformative and accelerated actions leading up to 2030. The Summit marked the half-way point to the deadline set for achieving the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals and was the centerpiece of the subsequent High-level Week of the General Assembly.
Held just prior to the SDG Summit, the SDG Action Weekend held on 16–17 September 2023 aimed to generate additional opportunities for stakeholders, UN entities and Member States to convene inside the United Nations Headquarters and to set out specific commitments and contributions to drive SDG transformation between now and 2030. The SDG Action Weekend consisted of a “SDG Mobilization Day” (16 September) and a “SDG Acceleration Day” (17 September).
Both the SDG Action Weekend and the SDG Summit fed into the subsequent High-level Week of the UN General Assembly held from 19 to 29 September 2023. The High-level Week aimed to respond to the impact of multiple and interlocking crises facing the world and expected to reignite a sense of hope, optimism, and enthusiasm for the 2030 Agenda.
The Council convenes the scientific expertise and resources needed to lead on catalysing, incubating and coordinating impactful international action on issues of major scientific and public importance. The Council’s Action Plan forms a practical framework for the ISC’s work until the end of 2024, and to work towards our vision of science as a global public good.
The ISC works at the intersection of science and policy, particularly at the UN level, to ensure that science is integrated into international policy development and that relevant policies take into account both scientific knowledge and the needs of science.
The ISC recently released the report of its Global Commission on Science Missions for Sustainability Flipping the Science Model: A Roadmap to Science Missions for Sustainability. It describes and advocates for mission science for sustainability as an urgently needed new form of science for the SDGs. It also serves as a call, inviting all stakeholders, both familiar and unconventional, to unite with the science community in this endeavour of collectively catalyzing science’s power to drive transformative action towards a more sustainable world for all.
In July, 150 experts from academia, governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the scientific community, and the UN system met for the inaugural Science Day held at the UN Headquarters in parallel with this year’s High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Participants issued a call to leverage scientific knowledge to gain headway for the 2030 Agenda and other key global aims that are failing to progress. They urged the creation of a “global transformation road map” that embraces scientific knowledge to address intertwined global crises.
The ISC and partners presented the following recommendations and a call to action – informed by the Science Day participants and members of the Independent Group of Scientists of the 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report who participated in the event – to support Member States and decision-makers in using science to accelerate sustainable development.
Leveraging science for sustainable development
Science has a critical role to play in advancing the SDGs. The upcoming 2023 SDG Summit stands as an important opportunity to champion a paradigm shift to make the codesign of research and action the standard practice in sustainability science.
As people and planet face increasingly complex and interconnected challenges, winning on the SDGs will require all stakeholders to mobilize around a “big science” approach – changing the way we currently do and fund science for sustainability.
Catalyzing transformative change: science, academia, and the journey to 2030
Strengthening the science-policy interface, fostering ethical and equitable knowledge co-production, and building inclusive science systems are essential steps, as advocated by Melody Brown Burkins, to amplify the potential of science for catalyzing transformative change.
“The making of the Golden Record of our century”: daring to pursue mission-oriented science
Achieving the Global Goals within the 2030 deadline necessitates all stakeholders to mobilize around mission-led science – that, much like the Voyager probes, will outlive generations and build long-term scientific outcomes for the benefit of all humankind.
Catalyzing Transformative Change: Science, Academia, and the Journey to 2030
16 September 2023, 12:00 to 14:00 (EDT)
This Official Session focused on harnessing science, technology, and innovation to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined in the 2030 Agenda. It aimed to foster partnerships and strategies to address barriers, promote knowledge sharing, and drive sustainable transformations in critical areas. Bringing together policy-makers, researchers, and other stakeholders, the event sought to advance commitments from the SDG Summit Political Declaration for bridging divides in science, technology, and innovation to support sustainable development.
Accelerating Multilateralism with Transformations in Science Policy Practice Interfaces
16 September 2023, 14:15 to 15:45 (EDT)
This side-event focused on global challenges exacerbated by current crises, emphasizing partnerships and collaboration for sustainable development, particularly for SIDS and LDCs. It explored higher education’s role in capacity growth, innovation, and science-policy-practice interfaces. The event highlighted practical implications, like public health strengthening and disaster risk reduction, while stressing the need for open science and partnerships to advance SDGs.
Image by Robert Katzki on Unsplash.
