HLPF: Unpacking Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development: Unexplored options for achieving the SDGs

Policy alignment and policy coherence are the cornerstones for achieving every single Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).1 The HLPF in 2024, without prejudice to the integrated, indivisible and interlinked nature of the SDGs, will also review in-depth Goals 1 on poverty, Goal 2 on hunger, Goal 13 on climate change, Goal 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions, and 17 on partnerships for the Goals. Additionally, the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) in 2024 will consider progress being made by countries in using policy coherence for sustainable development (PCSD) as a key enabler for actions at national and transnational levels.2 The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) serves as the custodian of the SDG indicator 17.14.1. The Early Warning and Assessments Division (EWAD) and the Law Division have been focusing on supporting countries to better articulate policy coherence and use the indicator effectively. More recently, the focus on policy coherence have started to find place in several implementation discussions ranging from the multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) to dealing with financial planning and deployment for environmental governance and management at different levels. And linking not only to the Agenda 2030 but to addressing the triple planetary crises in a coherent manner. Financing mechanisms such as the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) have been mandated to use policy coherence as a key element of its programming and delivery.

In the context of MEAs, the Rio Conventions have already started to identify options for using policy coherence for realizing the common approaches for integrated implementation at national level. The Senior Officials Meeting (SOM 29) of the Environment Management Group (EMG) has shown considerable interest in using coherence as an enabler for delivering the UN Common Approaches, to promote synergies among the Rio Conventions. At the national level, the interest to use policy coherence to deal with integrated implementation options and financing are being actively considered by several countries, as demonstrated by some of the progress reports presented through the Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs).

* All the timings are in New York Time *

08:30–08:45: Opening 

• Introduction  Balakrishna Pisupati, Head Environmental Policy Unit, UNEP – Moderator 
• Welcome remarks  Patricia Kameri- Mbote, Director Law Division, UNEP 
• Context remarks  Representative, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 
• Overview presentation on policy coherence  Balakrishna Pisupati, Head Environmental Policy Unit, UNEP 

08:45–09:05: Panel 1: Unpacking policy coherence for sustainable development  

• Country Experience Related to PCSD Mara Cossu, Deputy Head of Unit, Instruments & technologies for Sustainable development, Ministry of Env. and Energy Security
• Status of Policy Coherence in Sustainable Development
• Ernesto Soria Morales, Senior Policy Analyst, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 
• Danny Ghafari, Programme Management Officer, Early Warning and Assessment Division, UNEP 

09:05–09:15: Launch of publications from OECD and UNEP Tita Korvenoja, Chief of Branch, Environmental Conventions and Policy Branch, Law Division

09:15–09:35:  Panel 2: Role of policy coherence in strengthening environmental governance  

• Making policy coherence work for environmental management  Michihiro Oi, Director International Strategy Division, Ministry of Environment, Japan  
• Policy coherence and its relevance in implementing MEAs  Marina von Weissenberg, Adviser to the Minister of Environment, Senior Ministerial Adviser at the Ministry of the Environment
• UN Common approaches and policy coherence Hossein Fadaei, Secretary Environment Management Group 

09:35   - 09:55: Questions and Answers Wrap Up 

09:55 – 10:00: Session Close