The UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) published a report summarizing stakeholder inputs to the 2027 edition of the Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR). Stakeholders provided inputs in response to an online open call by DESA’s Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG) to inform the drafting of the 2027 GSDR.
The GSDR is a quadrennial publication produced to support deliberations at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) under the auspices of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), also known as the SDG Summit, which takes place every four years. It is written by an independent group of 15 scientists appointed by the UN Secretary-General.
Following the initial announcement of 14 appointments for GSDR 2027, a 15th expert was later added – Judith Gobin (Trinidad and Tobago). The Independent Group of Scientists (IGS) represents a wide range of disciplines, expertise, and geographic backgrounds and seeks to ensure gender balance.
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The GSDR’s 2027 edition builds on the legacy of the 2019 and 2023 reports. Scheduled for release in September 2027, in advance of the 2027 SDG Summit, the report will provide scientific guidance on the state of global sustainable development, address emerging challenges, and present actionable recommendations for governments and other stakeholders. The report’s goal is “to strengthen the science-policy-society interface and serve as a robust, evidence-based tool to support policymakers in accelerating progress toward poverty eradication and sustainable development in the final push to 2030.”
The 2027 SDG Summit will review progress towards all 17 SDGs as the deadline for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development approaches.
The open call for stakeholder inputs was held through an online form between 23 February and 31 March 2026 with a view to understand stakeholder expectations, gather examples of good practice and lessons learned in SDG implementation, and identify additional peer-reviewed assessments to complement the IGS’ own research.
A total of 347 stakeholder from 78 countries responded to the open call. The report highlights top ten priority issues as identified by stakeholders:
- The climate-energy-food-water-biodiversity nexus;
- Digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI) governance;
- Sustainable finance and reform of the global financial architecture;
- Education as a systemic accelerator;
- Overcoming institutional fragmentation;
- Strengthening data systems and disaggregation;
- Transitioning to circular and regenerative models;
- Tackling structural inequalities;
- Local action and community-based transformation; and
- The climate-health-equity nexus.
On guidance on sustainable development by 2030 and beyond, stakeholders underscored the need for institutionalizing policy coherence and accountability, integrated planning and management, participatory science-policy-society interface, disaggregated data and inclusive monitoring, and practical implementation playbooks. They also called for, inter alia, sustainable and equitable finance reform, paradigm shift beyond Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and differentiated and context-sensitive pathways.
Stakeholders also identified ways to strengthen GSDR 2027’s effectiveness and usability, such as practical implementation toolkits and interactive digital navigators or dashboards, and highlighted expectations, challenges, and lessons learned.
Published in June, the report is accompanied by an online flipbook and a one-page document summarizing key takeaways. [Publication: Stakeholder Inputs to Inform Global Sustainable Development Report 2027: Open Call Summary Report] [Call for Stakeholder Inputs]