Oct 7,

08:30 – 9:15am

Welcome by First Mayor of Hamburg Peter Tschentscher; 

Setting the Scene by UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner;

Keynote speech by Chancelllor Olaf Scholz

Livestream: https://www.sustainability-conference.org/en/live 

Blockchain technology offers transparent, trackable solutions to combat inefficiencies and mistrust in green finance. Innovations like tokenized nature finance and blockchain-based biodiversity credits align private capital with sustainable development goals. This session will explore these topics more in-depth.

Oct 7, 

4:00-

5:00pm

Digital is a transformative force with vast potential for our planet and its people. However, to avoid deepening digital divides and environmental crises, it is crucial to build public digital capacities, environmental safeguards and meaningful AI governance. This session unites key actors to advance green digital action globally, following the recently adopted UN Global Digital Compact.

Oct 7, 5:00-6:00pm

Small is beautiful, but will it scale? In the drive for a fairer world, we have an often-overlooked asset: what 8 billion people around the world know. Innovators and changemakers in the Global Majority tend to be defined by their problems. This session explores an alternative model: learning from innovations that have worked in sustainable development and taking them to scale via digital public goods and private sector partnerships.

This session is powered by the UNDP Accelerator Labs Network, learn more here. 

The urgent need to scale finance for the SDGs was a central topic of discussion at the Summit of the Future. It is an opportune time to explore how to build on the Pact and leverage the Hamburg Sustainability Conference 2024 as a platform  to provide a critical inputs to future initiatives aimed at scaling finance for the SDGs, such as the UNFCCC COP 29 and the upcoming Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville, Spain 2025.

Livestream: https://www.sustainability-conference.org/en/live 

Climate change, environmental degradation and an escalating debt crisis pose significant threats to lives, jobs and economic growth with ripple effects on financial resilience and investment flows. The current financial architecture fails to adequately value the economic costs of inaction to rising risks, while growing uninsurability is undermining investment in the net-zero transition and threatening to create a “climate debt trap”.  To future-proof development, senior leaders across government, development, insurance and investment come together to advocate for the creation of a global de-risking facility that leverages innovative insurance solutions to drive a virtuous cycle of protection and investment in a world of rising risks. The goal? Re-shaping markets that generate economic growth while protecting people and the environment.

Oct 8,

4:00-5:00pm

Responsible AI for Sustainable Development

Artificial Intelligence has the potential to significantly advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by addressing global challenges. With proper governance and ethical deployment, AI can benefit people’s lives and the planet while ensuring its accessibility to all. This high-level panel discussion will establish shared principles for leveraging AI in international development, marking the first step toward the Hamburg Declaration on Responsible AI for the SDGs, which is set to be signed in June 2025.

Livestream: https://www.sustainability-conference.org/en/live