An annual webinar provided an overview of the main expectations for the 2025 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), discussed the main themes, issues, and messages, and explored links with the recently concluded Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4).

The webinar took place on 9 July 2025, ahead of the HLPF convening under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in New York, US, from 14-23 July. It was hosted by Cepei and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).

Philipp Schönrock, Cepei Director, who moderated the panel, highlighted the webinar’s focus on: restoring trust in multilateralism; reviving the narrative on the SDGs; and exploring the linkages with FfD4 outcomes.

On expectations for the HLPF, Lynn Wagner, Senior Director, IISD, said the Forum will provide an opportunity for countries to come together and discuss how they see multilateralism going forward. She flagged the HLPF high-level ministerial discussion around the UN Secretary-General’s UN80 initiative seeking to address the liquidity crisis and challenges to multilateralism, and conversations around beyond 2030.

Emmanuel Ikenna Ohiri, Intergovernmental Affairs and Development Policy, UN-Habitat, and UN Youth Representative, highlighted “platforming” of local and regional governments and the UN’s efforts to revitalize itself and lead beyond 2030.

Annalisa Prizzon, Principal Research Fellow, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), and member of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), hoped to see the same energy she saw at FfD4 to move from ambition to action and results.

Lotta Tähtinen, Director, Office for Intergovernmental Support and Coordination, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) looked forward to SDG communities building on synergies and to voluntary national reviews (VNRs) that are more mature and analytical in reflecting the gaps and constraints countries face and what they need to move ahead.

Tähtinen said HLPF 2025 will convene under the overarching theme, ‘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.’ She said it will conduct in-depth reviews of SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG 14 (life below water), and SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals).

Noting that the HLPF will serve as a stepping stone to the Second World Summit on Social Development in November, she said it will be informed by the annual SDG progress report to be released by the DESA Statistics Division during the Forum. Tähtinen highlighted “encouraging” progress on poverty reduction, maternal health, and child mortality but warned that moderate progress on only 35% of SDG targets with data suggests “we’re nowhere near where we need to be if the Agenda is to be achieved by 2030.” She highlighted dedicated HLPF sessions that will address the importance of the regional and localization dimensions of the SDGs.

On FfD4, Prizzon underscored the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ as a significant milestone for multilateralism, which was able to achieve a higher level of ambition than the Pact for the Future. She said more than 15,000 participants from the UN, Member States, multilateral development banks (MDBs), think tanks, and other stakeholders “built a lot of energy” to find solutions and engage new actors.

She welcomed the 130+ initiatives announced under the Sevilla Platform for Action that address: the need for MDBs to increase lending; the role of national development banks in boosting local currency lending; and taxation, including global taxation of the super rich. Among key achievements, she highlighted the creation of the Borrowers’ Forum, coalitions for debt-for-development swaps, andthecreation of an intergovernmental process to reform the debt architecture. She encouraged participants to lobby their governments to join these initiatives, many of which she said are linked to the SDGs.

Prizzon lamented the lack of achievement on a UN convention on tax and the absence of proposals and granularity on how to amplify the voices on developing countries in multilateral financial institutions.

Ikenna Ohiri said the turnout at FfD4 is a testament to the will to engage in and reform international cooperation and stressed the need to address systemic issues and change power dynamics. He acknowledged the increasing trend towards youth’s participatory engagement but said it remains “largely tokenistic.”

Underscoring that sustainable development is a process that has to continue beyond 2030, Ikenna Ohiri urged participants to build on the momentum from FfD4 and follow through on commitments by turning them into action.

Wagner outlined efforts around SDG target 17.19 on building on existing initiatives to develop measurements of progress on sustainable development that complement gross domestic product (GDP), taking into account human, natural, and social capital – in addition to produced and financial capital GDP covers. She drew attention to: the recently appointed High-level Expert Group on Beyond GDP, as called for in the Pact for the Future; the launch of the Coalition of the Willing on the Beyond GDP Agenda during FfD4; and the Youth Moving Beyond GDP initiative of the Geneva-based Beyond Lab.

Wagner said discussions on synergies, including linkages among climate, biodiversity, land, water, and health, offer “entry points” for discussions on interlinkages among sectors, with Tähtinen flagging that the discussions from the Climate and SDG Synergies Conference in May with be brought further at a dedicated HLPF special event. Wagner outlined the need for a holistic approach to national planning on the SDGs, climate, and biodiversity by aligning VNRs with nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs).

During Q&A, panelists reflected on UN reform, which Tähtinen said is a priority for the current President of ECOSOC. She said Member States will address the future role of ECOSOC in the multilateral system during the 80th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) when periodic review of ECOSOC and the HLPF will occur. Tähtinen also said the SDG Summit in 2027 will provide clarity on the future of the SDGs.

Ikenna Ohiri spoke to the role of subnational engagement and coordination and hoped to see support for voluntary local reviews (VLRs). He called for identifying mechanisms and processes to make stakeholder engagement more effective and for greater coordination with the newly founded UN Youth Office. Prizzon said the early engagement of stakeholders in the negotiation of the FfD4 outcome document can be an example for other UN processes.

Wagner said IISD’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) will provide coverage of HLPF 2025, ensuring transparency. [What to Expect at HLPF 2025] [SDG Knowledge Hub Sources]