BMU and BMZ open Preparatory Conference for the United Nations’ High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
Today, Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze and Federal Development Minister Gerd Müller opened the first German Preparatory Conference for the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in Berlin. High-ranking representatives of the Federal Government, the German Bundestag, civil society, industry and science are attending the event.
Svenja Schulze commented: "We will roll up our sleeves and act now. Everyone and every sector: politicians, the business sector, industry, financial markets, countries, cities and citizens – at national and international levels. At the Sustainable Development Summit in New York, we will have to agree on setting up action programmes for the SDGs that are lagging behind. We will then tackle these goals directly and work ambitiously to implement them."
German Development Minister Gerd Müller stated: "We still have a lot of work to do if we are to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda. Climate policy is a case in point. Climate change is a transboundary problem. There is no lack of knowledge, but we have to do more to live up to our global responsibility. We owe this to our own generation, our children and grandchildren."
By adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) in 2015, the international community committed itself to ensuring good life prospects for present and future generations. Four years later, the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in July and the New York SDG Summit in September offer the first opportunities to fully take stock of the state of implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) are therefore hosting a first German HLPF Preparatory Conference. The conference brings together global and national sustainable development discussions and provides an outlook on the SDG Summit with broad participation of public and non-public stakeholders.
There will be several discussions on progress towards achieving selected SDGs (4 – Quality Education, 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth, 10 – Reduced Inequalities, 13 – Climate Action, 16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions and 17 – Partnerships for the Goals).