Every July, thousands of government representatives, UN officials, researchers, civil society organizations and youth advocates gather in New York for one of the world's biggest meetings on sustainable development: the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).
It may not receive the same public attention as climate summits like COP, but the HLPF plays a unique role, because it is the United Nations' main platform for reviewing global progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), sharing lessons between countries and identifying where more or faster action needs to be taken. With just a few years remaining until the 2030 deadline for achieving the SDGs, it offers a chance to take stock of where the world stands and where it needs to go next.
What is the HLPF?
The High-level Political Forum was established by the United Nations in 2013 to provide political leadership and oversight on sustainable development. Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, it has become the UN's central annual meeting dedicated to tracking progress on those goals.
Each year, governments come together to discuss how the world is advancing on sustainable development from ending poverty and improving access to clean water, to tackling climate change and building more resilient cities. Interestingly, the HLPF focuses on learning, accountability and cooperation, rather than negotiating new international agreements. Countries present their experiences and common challenges and get to exchange ideas on what is working and what is not.
One of the Forum's key features is the Voluntary National Review (VNR). Countries choose whether to present a review of their progress towards the SDGs. These reports highlight achievements, setbacks and priorities for the years ahead.
Alongside the national reviews, the HLPF also conducts in-depth reviews of a selected group of Sustainable Development Goals each year. This rotating approach allows participants to examine specific topics such as water, energy or cities in greater detail, while recognizing that all the Goals are interconnected.
Why does the HLPF matter?
The Sustainable Development Goals are ambitious and interconnected. Progress on one goal often depends on progress in others. For example, expanding access to clean energy can improve health, support economic development and help tackle climate change. Better water management strengthens food security, public health and ecosystem resilience. Sustainable cities depend on affordable housing, resilient infrastructure and effective governance.
The HLPF provides a rare opportunity to look at these connections instead of addressing each issue in isolation and additionally encourages countries to learn from one another. A successful policy introduced in one country may inspire similar approaches elsewhere, while discussions of persistent challenges can help identify shared solutions and opportunities for international cooperation.
Perhaps most importantly, the Forum helps keep sustainable development high on the global political agenda. Annual reporting creates a rhythm of accountability that encourages governments to assess progress, identify gaps and maintain momentum.
Why is the HLPF especially important now?
The world is entering the final stretch towards the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but progress remains uneven. Recent global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, climate-related disasters, armed conflicts, rising debt and growing economic uncertainty have slowed or even reversed progress in many areas. At the same time, increasing geopolitical tensions have made international cooperation more difficult. Because of that, the HLPF has become more than a routine annual meeting and serves as a checkpoint where countries can assess what has worked over the past decade, identify where progress is lagging and explore new ways to accelerate implementation.
The next SDG Summit, which is the formal name for the HLPF when it meets every four years at the level of Heads of State and Government and is convened by the UN General Assembly, will be held in 2027. This makes 2026 the penultimate regular year for the HLPF, also because of the 2030 deadline for the SDGs, which gives it a particular political significance.
Although the immediate focus remains achieving the SDGs by 2030, conversations are increasingly turning to what comes next. The many challenges the world is dealing with will not disappear once the current agenda ends. The HLPF therefore provides an important space to consider how international cooperation on sustainable development should evolve in the years beyond 2030.
Scientific evidence is expected to play an increasingly important role in these discussions in which researchers, policymakers and practitioners have to keep working together to keep identifying emerging risks, evaluate successful solutions and ensure that future decision-making is informed by the best available knowledge.
