China’s cross-cutting research on environment and development, which shapes its national policies toward an ecological civilization, as well as international cooperation in a world of interconnected environmental and development challenges will take center stage in the deliberations. Discussions will focus on innovation in global environmental governance; inclusive energy transition; sustainable production and consumption systems; and national green governance.

Negotiators at UNCCD COP 17 considered a wide array of decisions on enhancing efforts to address desertification, land degradation and drought.

Committing to make the final years of the 2030 Agenda count, participants at the HLPF showed the Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals have delivered meaningful progress—though uneven and backsliding in some quarters.

Ministers of the environment, heads of UN organizations, and lead negotiators called for focusing on scaling up implementation, underscoring that complex global challenges “must be met with cooperation, compromise, and collective action.” Nine thematic roundtable sessions explored cross-cutting implementation issues at the local, regional, and global levels.