News and events

Global Solutions Forum 2023

SDSN’s Global Solutions Forum (GSF) brings together sustainable development experts from around the world to showcase how they are implementing local initiatives that are advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

About the 2023 edition

SDSN is very happy to announce a new edition of the GLOBAL SOLUTIONS FORUM (GSF). The event will be held alongside the G-STIC Rio Conference (Brazil) on February 15th 2023.

The GSF is a global initiative that aims to showcase the most transformative and scalable solutions from within the SDSN network.

This edition will focus on solutions that address health and/or sustainable development challenges that intersect with health-related issues, in alignment with the priority themes established by the GSTIC Conference.

The conference is hosted by Fiocruz, a leading institution for science & technology in health in Latin America, and co-host institution of SDSN’s Health for all thematic network.

Find out more and register to attend virtually here.

Press release| New SDSN report shows how the EU can strengthen its leadership at home and internationally to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Paris, 05 December 2022: The 4th edition of the Europe Sustainable Development Report (ESDR) was released on Mon, 5th December. It includes the SDG Index and Dashboards which track progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the EU, its member states and partner countries. The report shows that, seven years after the SDG’s adoption by the international community and amid multiple crises, the EU`s progress on the SDGs has stalled. Based on trend data available since 2015, the EU is still on track achieving around two-thirds of the targets, yet a third of the targets show insufficient progress or are heading in the wrong direction, especially those related to responsible consumption, climate and biodiversity (SDG2; 12-15). Through unsustainable consumption and trade the EU generates large negative spillovers on the rest of the world.

Guillaume Lafortune, Vice President of the SDSN and lead author of the report, states that:


“In the midst of multiple health, security, climate, and financial crises the SDGs remain the future Europe and the world want. By living up to the ambitions of the European Green Deal at home and strengthening access to international SDG financing, the EU can achieve its strategic objectives and rally other countries to its values centered around human dignity, freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. The EU’s leadership and diplomacy will remain critical to advancing key multilateral processes towards achieving the SDGs including at the UN Heads of States’ SDG Summit in September 2023 and UN Summit of the Future in 2024.”


Adolf Kloke-Lesch, Co-Chair of SDSN Europe, emphasizes:


“Diplomacy, peace, and global cooperation are fundamental preconditions for making any progress on sustainable development. The EU should ensure a proactive and SDG oriented foreign and security policy and invest in its international partnerships. In a multipolar world, peace cannot be assured solely through ‘defense against’ thinking but also requires a ‘cooperation for’ approach: for a sustainable, peaceful future. In view of the mid-point in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, it is now the time for the EU to rise to the occasion and invest “whatever it takes” in the global common good, epitomized and documented in the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.”

Download the report here

Read more here

Press Release | EU’s Consumption is a Major Driver of Forced Labour and Accidents at Work Globally, says New Study by SDSN and the University of Sydney

Paris, 23 November 2022 – The football World Cup in Qatar raised concerns about human rights’ violations and climate impacts, notably in the construction sector. Today, the new study released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the University of Sydney, in cooperation with the German Government, shows that each year, through international trade and across all industrial sectors, the EU’s consumption is associated with 1.2 million cases of modern slavery and 4200 fatal accidents at work in the world. Also, about 40% of the total greenhouse gas emissions’ footprint of the European Union each year takes place outside of its borders to satisfy EU consumers.

Continue reading “Press Release | EU’s Consumption is a Major Driver of Forced Labour and Accidents at Work Globally, says New Study by SDSN and the University of Sydney”

Transforming Food Systems: An Agenda for Science, Policymaking and Investment

Dr Agnes Kalibata, President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa

Date: Monday 28 November
Time: 17.30 – Lecture
          18.30 – Reception

Venue: Online or G16, Sir Alexander Fleming Building, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ

Please register to attend on Eventbrite by Friday 11 November.

We are pleased to announce that Dr Agnes Kalibata, President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), will give the 2022 Annual Lecture of the Global Development Hub at Imperial College London.

Dr Kalibata will set-out a food systems change agenda for government, the private sector and policy makers, and underline the role for science and technology in driving innovation and informing evidence-based food systems interventions.

Agnes Kalibata is a Rwandan agricultural scientist, policy-maker and advocate focused on food system reform. Born in Rwanda and raised as a refugee in Uganda, she went on to become Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, promoting the use of science-based approaches to agriculture to increase food production and improve food security, with a focus on family farmers. Since 2014 she has been president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), an African-led organization committed to improving the food security and incomes of farming households in African countries. She served as the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the 2021 Food Systems Summit, accelerating action totransform food systems around the world to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.  Dr Kalibata is a member of the Malabo Montpellier Panel.

Professor David Nabarro, the Co-lead, UN Global Crisis Response Group, World Health Organisation’s Special Envoy on COVID-19 and Co-Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London will lead a Q&A session with Dr Kalibata.

Reflecting on 10 Years of SDSN

At the Rio+20 Summit a decade ago, the UN member states launched a process to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to put the world on the path to sustainable development that combines economic wellbeing, social justice, and environmental sustainability. We are now in the midst of the great global effort to create a global path to sustainable development that “leaves no one behind.”

Continue reading here.

THE Impact Rankings: Reflecting on the 2022 results

SDSN UK was delighted to convene earlier this month a panel discussion on the latest Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings.

We are very thankful to our panellists Duncan Ross, Laura Tucker, Dr Tracy Morse and Prof Philip McGowan, and all participants for such a rich and insightful conversation on how the THE Impact Rankings can enable universities to measure and reflect on their impact against the UN SDGs.

In case you missed it, you can find below the link to the event recording 👇