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The Hamburg Sustainability Conference is a new global development policy platform for leading minds from politics, business, science, civil society and multilateral organisations. In times of increasing geopolitical crises, it should enable a partnership-based exchange between representatives from the Global South and the Global North on structural issues within the framework of a new high-level format and to provide a forum to jointly develop solutions for the necessary socio-ecological transformation.

The world needs new momentum on the way to the Sustainable Development Goals. This is because global crises and conflicts of interest slow down their implementation. People in the Global South carry the main burden. There needs to be a space for trusting dialogue and partnership-based collaboration to reach the goals faster in an increasingly difficult environment. The Hamburg Sustainability Conference provides a link between political summits, the private sector and civil society.

The conference will take place from June 20–21, 2024 in Hamburg. The venue is the Congress Center Hamburg (CCH). Furthermore, during the week of the conference there will be activities to involve interested citizens in public spaces in the city of Hamburg. The publicly accessible formats and the closed discussion rounds at the CCH are connected via interaction points (e.g. public lectures, a joint picnic and discussion rounds between HSC participants and interested citizens). There will also be a live stream of selected parts of the program, as well as the opportunity for citizens to digitally contribute questions live to individual forums.

After the 2024 conference, further events are planned for 2025 and 2026. The Hamburg Sustainability Conference does not see itself as a one-off conference, but as a process with numerous activities spread over the year to ensure a sustainable impact in many places around the world.

Around 1,000 international guests are expected. The participants are made up of decision-makers from the Global South and the Global North. High-ranking state and government representatives as well as decision-makers from business, science, civil society and multilateral organisations are invited. Self-registration for the conference is not possible. Representatives of youth organizations will also participate in the Hamburg Sustainability Conference as part of a Young Leaders Program. The formats in the public space of the city of Hamburg are open to all interested citizens.

The Hamburg Sustainability Conference is an initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and is being held in close cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Michael Otto Foundation and the City of Hamburg.

The program follows a two-pronged agenda: First, it brings together global leaders to debate and form alliances in Councils. Discussions on governance structures and necessary changes in international institutions are just as much a focus here as the creation of global alliances for new sustainable financial instruments. On the other hand, entrepreneurial approaches to achieving the SDGs and the sustainable improvement of value chains will play an important role in Forums. The topics are determined together with partners from the Global South.

The Hamburg Sustainability Conference establishes a link between political summits of government representatives and sustainability forums of the private sector. Executives from the business world are central actors in the conference, actively shaping it and contributing solutions and concepts for a sustainable design of the economy. In this way, the Hamburg Sustainability Conference promotes cooperation between politics and business in achieving the SDGs.

The Hamburg Sustainability Conference aims to provide a space in which a trusting dialogue and new pioneering international alliances of political decision-makers, private sector leaders and representatives from academia and civil society can emerge. The aim is to jointly develop solutions for the necessary socio-ecological transformation and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

A comprehensive sustainability concept is being drawn up for the Hamburg Sustainability Conference. This will be aligned with the ISO standard for sustainable events to ensure that the sustainability of the conference is verified and evaluated by an external body.