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The 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly opened with a gathering of world leaders from 23-29 September 2020. These leaders and other stakeholders participated in a series of summits, high-level meetings and side events.

The official commemoration of UN75, which took place at a socially distanced UN Headquarters, with Heads of State and Government joining virtually, focused on the theme of “The future we want, the United Nations we need: Reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism.” The meeting was addressed by 111 Heads of State and Government and 14 Ministers, who spoke in support of multilateralism and global solidarity, among other themes.  

The SDG Moment was convened virtually by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to identify changes needed to recover better from COVID-19 and deliver the SDGs over the next decade. A “reality check” on progress on the SDGs was followed by a session on SDG gaps and plans, with interventions by 21 nominated Heads of State and Government. Contributions from stakeholders then addressed finance for the decade, climate solutions, and inequality.  

To maintain momentum ahead of the United Nations Biodiversity Summit on 30 September 2020 and COP 15 in 2021, the CBD convened a series of special virtual sessions. It began with bad news for global biodiversity. The launch of the fifth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook, a final report card on progress against the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets adopted in 2010 with a 2020 deadline, starkly announced that none of the targets will be met.

Following more than a decade of discussions convened under the United Nations General Assembly, the Assembly, in resolution 72/249 of 24 December 2017, decided to convene an IGC on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction with a view to developing a legally binding instrument as soon as possible.

During this virtual meeting, the Committee finalized its work on two industrial chemicals: decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE), and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related compounds. The CRC agreed to recommend that the Conference of the Parties (COP) list both industrial chemicals in Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention. 

The online meeting featured robust discussions on what more the Basel Convention should do on plastic wastes, waste lead-acid batteries, and transboundary e-waste shipments.

This online technical session addressed the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) Replenishment Task Force’s (RTF) report on the replenishment of the Multilateral Fund (MLF) for 2021-2023, which is essential to the continued success of the Montreal Protocol in phasing out ozone depleting substances and greenhouse gases.

The High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) is the platform that monitors the progress to achieving the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at global, regional and national levels. It identifies challenges, shares lessons learned and searches for solutions. The 2020 HLPF will be held from 7 to 16 July 2020 under the theme “Accelerated action and transformative pathways: realizing the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development.” Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and global travel restrictions, this year’s HLPF will be entirely virtual. ENB is providing coverage of selected side events during the 2020 HLPF.