The UN system, Member States, and stakeholders are moving ahead with preparations for the July 2023 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). This year, the HLPF convenes twice: from 10-20 July under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC); and at the level of Heads of State and Government under the auspices of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), from 18-19 September.

Themed, ‘Accelerating the recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels,’ the HLPF’s July session will hold in-depth reviews of five SDGs: 6 (clean water and sanitation); 7 (affordable and clean energy); 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure); 11 (sustainable cities and communities); and 17 (partnerships for the Goals).

Marking the mid-point in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the 2023 SDG Summit will bring together leaders from governments, international organizations, the private sector, civil society, and other stakeholders to “carry out a comprehensive review of the state of the SDGs, respond to the impact of multiple and interlocking crises facing the world, and provide high-level political guidance on transformative and accelerated actions leading up to the 2030 deadline for achieving the SDGs.”

The UN Secretariat’s concept note for the July session is available in PDF format. The provisional agenda (E/HLPF/2022/1) is here. The draft programme of work for the session, dated 19 June, provides information on daily events and includes guiding questions for the thematic sessions. An annotated programme, with speakers for HLPF 2023 and the ECOSOC High-level Segment, is available here. The programme is a living document and will be updated as needed. Background notes for the thematic sessions are here.

In addition to the official programme, the HLPF Secretariat has released the details on twelve special events taking place during the Forum:

• SDGs Learning, Training, and Practice (10-14 July);
• Launch of the special edition of the Sustainable Development Report 2023: A High-level Event Call to Action (10 July);
• Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report and the SDG 7 Policy Briefs (11 July);
• Launch of the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) Report (12 July);
• Local and Regional Governments Forum (12 July);
• Local 2030 Coalition Special Event: Actions, Solutions, and Partnerships to Foster Multilevel Governance and Unlock Financing to Accelerate SDG Localization (12 July);
• Science Day: Evidence-based Strategies for SDG Acceleration (15 July);
• Global Climate & SDG Synergy Conference (16 July);
• Higher Education Sustainability Initiative’s (HESI) Global Forum (17 July);
• SDG 6 & Water Action Agenda Special Event (17 July);
• 2023 Global Business Forum: Turbocharging the 2030 Agenda with Business Impact (18 July); and
• Parliamentary Forum (18 July).

The HLPF Secretariat has also published a tentative programme of side events taking place in the margins of the 2023 HLPF. The spreadsheet, dated 20 June, is available here.

The 2023 VNR Labs will have the collective theme, ‘Recovery, Transformation, Acceleration and Implementation.’ The VNR Labs convene on the sidelines of the HLPF to provide “an informal platform for experience sharing and reflection” on the voluntary national review (VNR) process. They take place under Chatham House rules.

The latest Information Note, dated 23 June, on the arrangements for the 2023 HLPF and the ECOSOC High-level Segment provides details on the format, venue, participation, and logistics.

The governments that will present VNRs of SDG implementation during the 2023 HLPF have released the main messages of their reports. Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Canada, the Central African Republic (CAR), Comoros, Chile, Croatia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the EU, Fiji, France, Guyana, Iceland, Ireland, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Maldives, Mongolia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Syria, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, and Zambia will present their VNRs at the 2023 HLPF.

The HLPF meets under the auspices of the General Assembly at the level of Heads of State and Government every four years. When the HLPF convenes twice in the same year, the Forum will adopt “only one negotiated political declaration.” The co-facilitators for the negotiations on the Political Declaration of the SDG Summit – Ireland and Qatar – circulated a “zero draft” of the outcome document on 8 May. Member States exchanged initial views on the zero draft during an informal consultation on 16 May. Informal consultations took place on 2, 9, 21, and 22 June and will continue.

The Major Groups have submitted position papers on the theme of the July session of the HLPF. Their executive summaries are compiled in a preparatory document. The contributors are “major groups and other relevant stakeholders that have autonomously established and maintained effective coordination mechanisms for participation” in the HLPF. They include: Women; Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs); Local Authorities; Workers and Trade Unions; Education and Academia; Business and Industry; Persons with Disabilities; Volunteers; Ageing; Asia-Pacific Regional Civil Society Organization (CSO) Engagement; Communities Discriminated by Work and Descent; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Persons; Financing for Development (FfD); Scientific and Technological Community; and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).

The functional commissions of ECOSOC have also submitted input on the theme of the session, discussing their contributions to implementing the 2030 Agenda. Another input to the HLPF session is a compilation of reports from the UN’s regional commissions (E/HLPF/2023/3). The submissions present summaries of the 2023 regional forums on sustainable development (RFSDs) that took place in Africa, the Arab Region, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

Other official inputs include the UN Secretary-General’s SDG Progress Report outlining a rescue plan for people and the planet, the Secretary-General’s report discussing long-term future trends and scenarios for the realization of the SDGs, and a report on the 2023 annual theme of ECOSOC and the HLPF, ‘Accelerating the Recovery from the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and the Full Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.’ [SDG Knowledge Hub Coverage of HLPF 2023]