Government officials and stakeholders from Germany convened in the margins of the 2025 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the process that was used to develop Germany’s third voluntary national review (VNR). Held as a VNR Lab, the event focused on how engagement mechanisms can help strengthen transparency, accountability, and long-term impact. 

Participants reflected on how participatory processes for preparing VNRs support stronger and more meaningful implementation of the SDGs, along with more robust reporting of activities aimed at the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Themed, ‘Participation Works! Strengthening the Role of Stakeholders in the Implementation and Reporting of the 2030 Agenda,’ the event took place on 23 July 2025, at UN Headquarters in New York, US.

Kai Niebert, Member of the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE), moderated the event. “Many speakers highlighted that [Germany’s third] VNR had been completed despite the change in the German Federal Government,” the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) summary of the event notes.

Addressing stakeholder participation as a critical success factor in the German Sustainability Strategy (DNS) and VNR processes, Bärbel Kofler, Parliamentary State Secretary, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), stressed the importance of the whole-of-society approach and the need to include those responsible for implementing the strategy in its development. 

Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter, Parliamentary State Secretary, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN), said it is important to include actors from all levels – municipality, federal state, national, and international.

Offering stakeholder perspectives on an effective and inclusive stakeholder engagement mechanism, Bettina Bunk, Mayor’s Office, City of Stuttgart, announced her city’s submission of its fourth voluntary local review (VLR) to the HLPF, which she said fed into the German VNR. She called for involving municipalities in the “beyond 2030” process.

Audrey MacLean, German Federal Youth Council, said powerful stakeholder engagement needs political will and institutional openness, as well as clear mandates and expectations for engagement.

Thomas Hohn, Greenpeace Germany, said the motto “Participation Works” reflects his experience with Germany’s VNR and demonstrates the importance of civil society and its role in providing “swarm intelligence.”

During discussion, participants underscored the value of participating in peer learning events, to get ideas and advice from counterparts in other countries who provide input for their own governments’ VNRs.

Convening from 14-23 July in New York, HLPF 2025 marked VNRs’ ten-year anniversary. [ENB Coverage of VNR Lab]