This year, the HLPF will take place 10–19 July. The HLPF is the UN’s most important conference on sustainable development and assesses global progress towards achieving the goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Launched in 2015, the action plan aims to eradicate extreme poverty and promote sustainable development that takes equal account of ecological, economic and social sustainability.
“The local sustainable development assessment is important for Helsinki from the point of view of strategic management. The comprehensive, data-based assessment gives an overall picture of where Helsinki is at in view of the Sustainable Development Goals. At the same time, we can see what areas need development in Helsinki. This assessment is substantiated by over 60 sustainable development indicators that can be found in our assessment,” says Anni Sinnemäki, Deputy Mayor of the Urban Environment Division, who will participate in the HLPF.
Deputy Mayor Sinnemäki will give Finland’s speech in the official program of the Forum on July 13. The topic of the speech is the implementation of the SDG 11 goal. In addition, the Deputy Mayor will participate as a speaker at the Forum in the official side event of Finland on July 13 and to events dealing with national and local sustainable development assessments organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN Desa) and United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat).
The message from Helsinki is that the assessment of the local implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals provides an important foundation for the development of sustainability work. Helsinki wants the Sustainable Development Goals to be integrated into the core processes of the city. Helsinki wants to engage in evidence-based and ambitious sustainability work that is based on true actions.
Helsinki has been actively working towards the realisation of Agenda 2030
Since 2018, Helsinki has been actively working towards the realisation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030. A significant part of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals takes place at local level in cities. Especially in Finland, municipalities play an important role: they are responsible for many activities and services related to social, ecological, cultural and economic sustainability.
In Helsinki, important themes for sustainable development include low-carbon qualities, smart city, healthiness and social sustainability. Helsinki also wants to encourage cities around the world to strongly engage in sustainable development work and take concrete actions.