Hamburg Sustainability Conference: Chancellor Scholz to Open in October

New Delhi, Sep 8 (PTI) The key Hamburg Sustainability Conference that will bring together experts from around the world to discuss "ideas and innovations" to accelerate efforts to achieve the SDGs will take place around the first week of October, a top German official here said.

In an interview to PTI, Uwe Gehlen, Head of Development Cooperation, German Embassy in India, also said the conference will be opened by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The Hamburg Sustainability Conference is scheduled to be held on October 7 and 8, and India will participate in it, both from the public and private sectors.

Gehlen took part in a panel discussion 'Financing the Renewable Energy Revolution' at the International Solar Festival here on Friday and spoke about Germany's role in helping India realise its renewable energy goals by 2030.

Later interacting with PTI, he spoke about the progress made in the Green and Sustainable Development Partnership (GSDP) between the two countries and the significance of the upcoming visit of Chancellor Scholz late in October.

Gehlen described the relationship between India and Germany in the clean and renewable energy sector as "marvellous".

He also shared details about the Hamburg Sustainability Conference, which will take place in Germany ahead of Chancellor Scholz's scheduled visit to India next month.

"We got to the conclusion, specifically from the development anchor that we would like to take up efforts to qualify a little bit more beyond the existing format, the discussion about innovation in SDGs," the top German official told PTI on the sidelines of the festival.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.

At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership.

"They recognise that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality and spur economic growth all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests," the SDGs website reads.

Gehlen said the SDGs are meant to be fulfilled in 2030 and it's not that the stakeholders are struggling, but it would be "very challenging" road ahead.

"So, more activities needed, more networks needed, more good ideas needed, more innovations needed and the idea from the leadership in my ministry together with the chancellory was setting up a format where these discussions could happen, so we developed this format," he said.

"And, it will take place now first time, in Hamburg, and will be opened by our Chancellor Olaf Scholz, so, we are very proud about that," Gehlen added.

The German official said that an entire range of thematic sessions related to a whole lot of questions "we ask ourselves continuously" have been planned.

The key conference will see gathering of "very high-ranking participants" from all over the world, but also a lot of people who are not so famous, but having good ideas, he said.

"We need a new era of sustainability, new alliances with business leaders, global policymakers, and society. Halfway from the adoption of the SDGs in 2015 on the path to 2030, the Hamburg Sustainability Conference is establishing a new global platform to speed up the implementation of the SDGs and deliver result-oriented solutions," reads a description on its official website.

Asked if India's participation will be from both public and private sectors, Gehlen said, "yes".

India-Germany relationship is based on "tremendous amount of trust, friendship and shared responsibility", bringing both countries forward as well making contribution to the world, and the upcoming visit of Chancellor Scholz is in line with it, he said.

German Chancellor Scholz and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in May 2022 signed the German-Indian Green and Sustainable Development Partnership (GSDP), which gears cooperation between the two countries across different sectors towards the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement.

Scholz is set to visit India in October to hold wide-ranging talks with Modi, with a focus on boosting bilateral trade and economic relations.

He said the upcoming "visit of our Chancellor with parts of the German Cabinet will push us forward. I am very much looking forward to it".