Welcome to the June edition of our In Case You Missed It monthly review. 

This year, we mark the ten-year anniversary of the big 2015 agreements – the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its financing arm, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). The UN turns 80. As we celebrate these milestones, we also pause to reflect on where we could do better.

Financing challenges are dire. Work programs of USD 256 million recently approved by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council are a drop in the ocean, with the annual deficit for the SDGs measuring in trillions. The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) next week will offer opportunities to address financing challenges to accelerate SDG implementation. The FfD4 outcome document, agreed by countries ahead of the Conference, recognizes the annual financing for development (FfD) gap of USD 4 trillion and launches “an ambitious package of reforms and actions to close this financing gap with urgency.”

The UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in July will build on these commitments to explore ways to advance “sustainable, inclusive, science- and evidence-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda… for leaving no one behind.” Other major meetings convening this year, including the World Social Summit and the annual UN Climate Change Conference will present further opportunities to advance efforts on the 2030 Agenda.

Exploring an ocean of possibilities

As the Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) recently demonstrated, opportunities are vast. As the HLPF prepares to conduct in-depth review of SDG 14 (life below water), the Conference offered clear signals of political will to address ocean-related issues.

Convening as a UNOC3 special event, the Blue Economy and Finance Forum (BEFF), generated financial commitments for the protection of the marine environment amounting to EUR 8.7 billion over the next five years. Nineteen countries announced ratifications of the Agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement), bringing the total to 51 – of the 60 needed for the treaty to enter into force.

Other UNOC3 announcement included:

Civil society spotlighted the Ocean Protection Principle and an Ocean of Possibilities – initiatives born out of a process to mobilize and consult civil society in the run up to the Conference. Over the course of 2026, a Protection Principle Task Force will work to develop ideas for implementing the concept in practice and report back in 2027, one year before the Fourth UN Ocean Conference.

Getting HLPF ready 

In addition to the deep dive into SDG 14 offered by UNOC3, several reports have advanced preparations for the HLPF, which will also review SDGs 3 (good health and well-being), 5 (gender equality), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), and SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals).

The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) published its annual global assessment of SDG progress, which, along with the UN Secretary-General’s SDG Progress Report and the Sustainable Development Goals Report by the UN Statistics Division (forthcoming) will inform HLPF deliberations. In addition to ranking countries on their overall performance on the SDGs, the report explores financing sustainable development to 2030 and mid-century, also feeding into FfD4.

A coalition of civil society organizations (CSOs) launched the ninth edition of the ‘Progressing National SDGs Implementation’ report, which provides an independent analysis of HLPF reporting by UN Member States. The report examines the current status of implementation of the 2030 Agenda, discusses trends in reporting, and highlights good practice for civil society participation. During the launch, speakers emphasized the critical role of partnerships in accelerating SDG progress and ensuring accountability.

UN-issued documents to support HLPF discussions include:

  • Position papers on the theme of HLPF 2025, submitted by Major Groups and Other Stakeholders (MGoS);
  • UN Secretary-General’s analysis of barriers to advancing progress on the five SDGs under review; and
  • A progress report on the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (10YFP), prepared by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

In a report issued on behalf of the Auditor General of Canada, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development to the Parliament of Canada identified lessons for the government to improve its efforts on sustainable development. Canada is not on the list of 37 countries presenting their voluntary national reviews (VNRs) this year.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP), the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of Germany, and more than 40 representatives of governments and stakeholders endorsed a declaration, seeking to shape human-centric, human rights-based, inclusive, open, sustainable, and responsible artificial intelligence (AI) for the SDGs. The Hamburg Declaration on Responsible AI for the SDGs – the first global declaration focused specifically on AI in development – aligns with the theme of HLPF 2025, ‘Advancing sustainable, inclusive, science- and evidence-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals for leaving no one behind.’

Multilateralism in action

On 2 June, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) elected Annalena Baerbock, former Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany, to serve as President of its 80th session starting 9 September. Her tenure will see the UN80 initiative – a reform agenda launched by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres in March – “shift more and more to the Member States’ space,” as Chair of the UN80 Task Force Guy Ryder highlighted, which is “when we’ll see results.” The UN80 three workstreams focus on efficiencies and improvements, a mandate implementation review, and structural changes and programme realignments across the entire UN system.

Current UNGA President Philemon Yang convened an informal interactive dialogue on the implementation of the Pact for the Future on the theme, ‘Monitoring and Evaluation.’ The meeting served as a platform for Member States to exchange views, best practices, and ideas to advance efforts to implement the Pact at the national level, translating commitments into practice while strengthening monitoring and evaluation “to ensure meaningful tracking of implementation progress.” The event was part of a series of three dialogues convened by the UNGA President to support the implementation of the Pact for the Future.

Last week, governments established the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste and Pollution (ISP-CWP). According to the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) summary, together with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the ISP-CWP “completes a ‘trifecta’ of international science-policy bodies to respond to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.”

References to climate change were notably absent from the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan and the joint statement on preventing, fighting, and recovering from wildfires, which are among the outcome documents agreed by the leaders at the Group of 7 (G7) Summit in Kananaskis, Canada. Australia, Brazil, India, the Republic Korea, Mexico, and South Africa, as well as the UN Secretary-General and the President of the World Bank also attended the Summit.

Leveraging synergies and partnerships to solve global challenges

While the G7 failed to unite in support of climate action, the BRICS alliance issued the bloc’s first recommendation on climate finance. The declaration, to be presented to leaders at the BRICS’ summit in July, outlines the need to reform multilateral development banks (MDBs) to mobilize private capital for climate action in the Global South.

The Global NDC Conference 2025 sought to help translate climate commitments in nationally determined contributions (NDC) to implementation plans by catalyzing ambition and easing access to financial flows from a broad donor base. The next round of NDCs, with an end date of 2035, is due at least 9 to 12 months in advance of the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 30).

Synergistic, whole-of-government, and whole-of-society approaches to solving global challenges have been gaining traction. The incoming COP 30 Presidency issued a call for whole-of-society partnerships on the climate action agenda, which it has organized into six thematic axes with 30 key objectives. The thematic areas cover: energy, industry, and transport; forests, oceans, and biodiversity; agriculture and food systems; resilience; human and social development; and means of implementation. The incoming Presidency invited all existing initiatives and coalitions, bringing together subnational governments, businesses, investors, NGOs, and communities, to accelerate implementation in these areas and bring forward solutions.

A recent meeting of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and a global assessment on DRR contributed to the resilience axis. A recent report analyzing the legal foundations for synergies and joint work between the UNFCCC and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) supported the biodiversity axis. Our guest articles on food security,  food biodiversity, and food affordability in a changing climate feed into the axis on agriculture and food systems.

The Sixth Global Climate and SDG Synergies Conference emphasized the need to link with work at FfD4, which is expected to address the financing gaps for the SDGs, climate change, and biodiversity. Participants highlighted the need to move from fragmented, short-term, and project-based approaches to long-term, nationally driven strategies.

A UNEP webinar, organized in collaboration with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat, Mexico, Sweden, and Switzerland, explored the role of synergies among biodiversity-related conventions, the climate process, and other multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) in advancing the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Discussions focused on the Bern Process, which engages 16 MEAs across the biodiversity, pollution, and desertification and climate change clusters to improve cooperation and coordination.  

Anticipating ICJ advisory opinion on climate change

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) – the principal judicial organ of the UN – is deliberating what many see as a landmark case, both for the Court and for climate law and action. As we wait for the advisory opinion on climate change to be delivered in open court, we have asked – and answered – five questions about this historic process. Colleagues also shared science perspectives to inform the advisory opinion. The Court’s ruling is expected to provide a clear legal benchmark with respect to countries’ climate change-related obligations and help accelerate redress of loss and damage, pin down a fast mitigation target, support climate justice and human rights, and course correct on SDG implementation.