Major Groups and Other Stakeholders (MGoS) have submitted position papers on the theme of the 2026 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), ‘Transformative, equitable, innovative and coordinated actions for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals for a sustainable future for all.’ The executive summaries of the position papers are consolidated into a note by the UN Secretariat.

Paragraph 85 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for stakeholders to be engaged in thematic reviews of progress on the SDGs at the HLPF.

The note (E/HLPF/2026/2) titled, ‘Discussion papers on the theme of the high-level political forum on sustainable development, submitted by major groups and other stakeholders,’ is dated 23 April 2026. It includes summaries from 16 Major Groups: Women; Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs); Local Authorities; Workers and Trade Unions; Business and Industry; Volunteer Groups; Scientific and Technological Community; Ageing; Persons with Disabilities; Education and Academia; Asia-Pacific Regional Civil Society Engagement Mechanism; Communities that Experience Discrimination Based on Work and Descent; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) People; and Civil Society Financing for Development (FfD) Mechanism; Together 2030; and People of African Descent.

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The NGOs Major Group highlights the imperative of moving beyond Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to promote social, economic, and environmental resilience and translate global commitments into effective local action. The Group calls for, inter alia, moving beyond siloed approaches to enable systemic resilience, strengthening multilateralism through equitable institutional reform; and driving structural, systemic transformation to improve planetary well-being.

The Civil Society FfD Mechanism emphasizes that Member States should, among other actions: agree on a UN framework convention on international tax cooperation; agree on a UN framework convention on sovereign debt; establish an international public credit rating agency at the UN; agree on a UN convention on international development cooperation; and establish a UN intergovernmental process to review and transform international financial institutions and multilateral development banks (MDBs).

Many contributions, including from Women, NGOs, Workers and Trade Unions, Persons with Disabilities, and Education and Academia, offer insights on the five Goals under review in 2026 – SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities), and SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals). Several highlight the need for coherence with the Pact for the Future, the Doha Political Declaration, the Sevilla Commitment, and the UN80 reform initiative, among other frameworks.

The full position papers are posted on the HLPF website. [Publication: Discussion papers on the theme of the high-level political forum on sustainable development, submitted by major groups and other stakeholders]