As prepared for delivery

Erster Bürgermeister der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg, Peter Tschentscher,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

 It is an immense privilege to welcome you to the inaugural Hamburg Sustainability Conference (HSC) -- co-initiated by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the Michael Otto Foundation, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

In this context, Hamburg, long a gateway to the world with a historic role in diplomacy is an ideal location for fostering the dialogue needed to address global challenges.

Indeed, with a rich maritime history and an ambitious plan to become carbon-neutral by the year 2040, Hamburg exemplifies the intersection between tradition and modernity. 

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, today, our global community finds itself at a crossroads: one path leading towards isolation, the other toward a future built on cooperation, unity, and sustainability. 

The HSC’s Unique Role and Approach

The HSC is an effort by the global community to help us choose a pathway of unity. It is an effort to build the innovative alliances needed to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the wake of the groundbreaking Pact for the Future -- adopted by the UN General Assembly – is a ringing endorsement of multilateral cooperation. 

In particular, the HSC has a vital role to play in imagining what sustainable futures can look like, leaning into cutting-edge R&D, from governance to finance and beyond.

At UNDP, we are exploring these ‘signals of change’ via our Strategy and Futures Team; and the Accelerator Labs Network, which works with grassroots innovators in 125 countries. 

For instance, we are seeing how technologies like AI are changing lives and allowing governments to address issues like nature loss. Yet the benefits of AI are not spread evenly. 

To address this, we must support countries to invest in their Digital Public Infrastructure and close the digital divide.

We also know that inclusive governance -- giving people real voices -- fosters trust and cooperation. It also leads to more equitable climate action. UNDP’s Climate Promise is ensuring that young people and marginalized communities have a meaningful say in their countries’ climate pledges -- and their futures.

The HSC can also facilitate partnerships that transcend outdated public-private and north-south distinctions, especially as our 80-year-old financial system is failing to deliver the SDGs for eight billion people. 

Developing countries are leveraging instruments like the Integrated National Financing Frameworks - now in 86 countries – to align public budgets and private investments with national development goals. This is facilitating investment of billions of dollars in key areas like the energy transition and job creation.

We must also question how we can re-frame debt “relief” - not as something that is “offered” to developing countries - but as a co-investment in our collective futures?

Indeed, multilateralism is the means by which the world retains its ability to talk to each other -- and to think beyond today.  In a world of splintered truth and diminishing trust, the HSC can help us identify new ways to shape a sustainable future.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

The Pact for the Future, which carries with it the Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations reaffirm the global community’s commitment to inclusive, accountable, and transformative systems and approaches that safeguard the needs and interests of future generations. 

For instance, recognising that the overwhelming majority of future generations will be born in Africa and Asia, it can strengthen global capacities to think, plan, and act for the future: driving new action on the SDGs in 'young countries' and beyond to protect the interests of both present and future generations. 

In many ways, the Pact is a call to harness the full strength of our collective humanity to face down challenges like climate change or pandemics, which transcend borders.

The HSC challenges us to determine how we can move this Pact forward: driving a new model of sustainable development that effectively ‘de-risks’ our collective future.

You, the participants, must not be mere passengers -- you are ‘navigators of change’, tasked with charting new courses, questioning old routes, and steering us toward sustainable shores.