Background

The Global Sustainable Development Report is a United Nations publication aimed at strengthening the science-policy interface at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, which replaced the Commission on Sustainable Development after Rio +20 as the main United Nations platform for providing political leadership and guidance on sustainable development issues at the international level.

In September 2015, United Nations Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, giving the Global Sustainable Development Report a role in the follow-up and review of the New Agenda (para. 83): The high-level political forum will also be informed by the Global Sustainable Development Report, which will strengthen the science-policy interface and serve as a powerful, evidence-based tool to help policymakers promote poverty eradication and sustainable development.

As stated in the Rio +20 outcome document, one of the functions of the high-level political forum is to "strengthen the science-policy interface through document reviews, consolidate dispersed information and assessments, including in the form of global sustainable development reports, and build on existing assessments. Strengthen the science-policy interface and build on existing assessments by consolidating decentralized information and assessments, including in the form of global sustainable development reports" (para. 85(k)). The Global Sustainability Report will therefore use an assessment approach to document and describe information on specific policy-relevant issues in the area of sustainable development. The report does not compete with new assessments and other substantive reports and assessments being prepared within and outside the United Nations system.

The report will cover the global situation, taking into account the perspectives of the five United Nations regions. The United Nations system will be consulted widely, including the regional commissions, scientists, government officials and stakeholders at all levels, including representatives of academies of science, key international assessment institutions and relevant United Nations expert groups.

Going forward, the global sustainability reporting process will work on the basis of the priorities set out by Member States at the High-level Political Forum.