NEW YORK, September 17, 2023 —Business leaders, academic experts and United Nations officials convened at the Innovation for Industrial Sustainability event in New York today, held on the sidelines of the 2023 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit.

        The event, jointly hosted by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Tsinghua University and UN Water, featured keynote speeches and panel discussions on topics such as sustainable consumption and production, renewable energy applications in businesses, and green industry practices.

        Corporates play a crucial role in decarbonization efforts, from revolutionizing sustainability in supply chains to influencing consumer mindsets and behavior. The event offered industry leaders a platform to cultivate public-private partnerships, exchange best practices, and discuss innovative and emerging opportunities to contribute to industrial sustainability, amid a broader accelerated push to achieve the 2030 Agenda and its SGDs. 

        Held every four years, the SDG summit represents the UN’s highest level of discussions on sustainable development. This year’s summit is particularly significant as its marks the midterm review of the progress of SDG implementation. 

        As an official side event, the Innovation for Industrial Sustainability forum is the first collaboration between DESA and Chinese institutions during an SDG summit. The event spotlighted Chinese companies’ concerted push towards net-zero goals, offering invaluable insights to global counterparts.

Li Junhua, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs

Gilbert F. Houngbo, Chair of UN Water and Director-General of the International Labour Organization

Xue Lan, Distinguished Professor of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Tsinghua University and Dean of Schwarzman College

Jeffrey Sachs, Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University

SDG Summit 2023