The High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) has always looked in two directions at once. It reviews progress on the Sustainable Development Goals while asking what more is needed to achieve them. This year, however, another layer of discussion became increasingly visible. Alongside the official programme, governments, scientists, universities, think tanks and international organisations began exploring a related question: how should the international community prepare for the world beyond 2030?
Although Member States have not launched negotiations on a successor to the 2030 Agenda, the Pact for the Future, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2024, explicitly identifies 2027 as an important milestone. Action 12(b) invites the High-Level Political Forum, meeting under the auspices of the General Assembly, “to consider in September 2027 how we will advance sustainable development by 2030 and beyond, as a priority and at the centre of our work.” The wording is carefully balanced. It neither reopens the 2030 Agenda nor predetermines a future framework. Instead, it acknowledges that preparing for the years beyond 2030 must begin before the current Agenda reaches its conclusion.
One of the most important processes underpinning this reflection is the preparation of the Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) 2027, the United Nations’ flagship scientific assessment on sustainable development. Published every four years, the report has progressively become the principal science-policy interface informing discussions at the High-Level Political Forum and the SDG Summits.
The 2027 edition carries particular significance. It will provide the scientific evidence for the first global reflection envisaged in the Pact for the Future on advancing sustainable development “by 2030 and beyond”, making it much more than a stocktaking exercise. As the international community approaches the final years of the 2030 Agenda amid accelerating geopolitical tensions, technological disruption, demographic shifts and climate impacts, the report is expected to help identify the transformations that will shape the next phase of sustainable development.
The way the report is being prepared is equally significant. During February and March 2026, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) launched an open global call for stakeholder inputs, inviting governments, local and regional authorities, academia, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, youth organisations, practitioners and the private sector to contribute evidence, practical experience and recommendations. More than 340 submissions from 78 countries were received, making this one of the broadest participatory exercises ever undertaken in the preparation of a GSDR. Rather than commenting on a completed draft, contributors were invited to help shape the report itself from the outset.
The summary of those contributions offers an illuminating snapshot of where international thinking is heading. Across regions and sectors, contributors called for stronger sciencepolicy-society interfaces, greater policy coherence, better integration of climate, biodiversity, food, water and health agendas, more responsible governance of digital technologies, and renewed attention to inequality, resilience and institutional trust. Many also emphasised the importance of local action, territorial approaches and community-led transformation, recognising that global ambitions ultimately succeed—or fail—through implementation in places. Taken together, the submissions point towards a growing shift from addressing the Sustainable Development Goals as separate objectives towards understanding sustainable development as a series of interconnected social, economic, environmental and institutional transformations.
The Independent Group of Scientists, appointed by Secretary-General António Guterres in September 2025 following an extensive global consultation, reinforces that message. The fifteen members represent every region of the world and bring together expertise spanning economics, climate urbanism, inclusive development, digital innovation, governance, international law, water diplomacy, forestry, business, comparative law and Pacific studies. Among them are urban governance expert Vanesa Castán Broto (Spain), inclusive development specialist Fabio Veras Soares (Brazil), digital transformation expert Mmaki Jantjies (South Africa), and governance scholar Steven Ratuva (Fiji).
If the GSDR asks what knowledge should guide the next phase of sustainable development, the Beyond GDP initiative asks a different question: how should progress itself be measured? Published in May 2026, Counting What Counts: A Compass of Progress for People and Planet argues that while Gross Domestic Product remains an essential measure of economic activity, it is no longer sufficient on its own to capture the realities shaping people’s lives. Wellbeing, resilience, inclusion, environmental sustainability and institutional trust all need to become part of the picture. The report has already moved beyond the expert stage.
During HLPF 2026, Member States launched an intergovernmental process—co-facilitated by Spain and Guyana—to consider how its recommendations could inform future international practice. In many respects, the initiative complements the GSDR: one seeks to strengthen the evidence base for sustainable development, while the other challenges the way progress is measured and valued.
For local and regional governments, this evolving debate is more than an opportunity to contribute ideas. As preparations for the 2027 GSDR continue and discussions on measuring progress evolve, local experiences, data and policy innovations will become increasingly valuable. Demonstrating the impact of local action, strengthening evidence on what works, building partnerships across sectors and levels of government, and scaling collaborative initiatives such as Catalonia’s 2030 Alliance are likely to become as important as implementing the Goals themselves. As David Perejil noted during HLPF, the transition beyond 2030 should not begin with a new global framework, but with stronger ecosystems of collaboration capable of connecting governments, academia, civil society and communities around shared evidence and shared action.
Perhaps that is the most important lesson from HLPF 2026. The post-2030 agenda is not yet being negotiated. But the ideas, evidence and partnerships that will eventually shape it are already taking form. Long before governments decide what the next global framework should look like, they are beginning to redefine the questions it will need to answer.