With less than four years remaining to 2030, global progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains uneven and insufficient. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026 finds that only around 15 per cent of targets with sufficient data are on track, while compounding pressures continue to weigh heavily on developing countries. In response, the United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD/UN DESA) and the ESCAP Subregional Office for East and North-East Asia (ESCAP-ENEA) are aligning multiple subregional and global platforms into a single consolidated week in Incheon.
The week kicks off with 2026 Sustainable Development Transformation Forum (SDTF)—UNOSD’s flagship forum since 2011 to build capacity, exchange knowledge, and facilitate policy dialogue on the 2030 Agenda. This integrated alignment capitalizes on overlapping constituencies and thematic coherence to move deliberately from global framing to subregional deep dives.
The forum is strategically structured to precede and inform three critical international milestones: the 2027 High-level Political Forum (HLPF), the quadrennial 2027 SDG Summit, and the release of the final Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR). Aligned with the upcoming HLPF theme, the 2026 Sustainable Development Week focuses heavily on capacity building and policy dialogue centered around five goals scheduled for in-depth review: SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), SDG 15 (Life on Land), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). It also integrates provisions from Resolution 80/293/B, calling for more analytical, scientific, and evidence-based Voluntary National Review (VNR) preparations and follow-up.
The five-day in-person programme sequences four distinct components to maximize synergy while preserving individual organizational mandates. Days 1 and 2 feature the SDTF Plenary and VNR Day, drawing policymakers, civil society, academia, and the private sector to share implementation lessons. Day 3 hosts the North-East Asia Development Cooperation Forum alongside the Civil Society Forum to address SDG 17 financing and multi-stakeholder partnerships. Finally, Days 4 and 5 culminate in the East and North-East Asia Multi-Stakeholder SDG Forum, delivering national updates from China, Japan, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea, and the Russian Federation.
Objectives
- Reflect on the outcomes of HLPF 2026 and introduce the HLPF 2027 theme and the Goals under review (4, 10, 12, 15 and 17), framing the Forum within the current international framework and the emerging findings of the 2027 GSDR process.
- Share lessons learned from over a decade of SDG implementation to help inform preparations for the 2027 SDG Summit and its focus on how to advance sustainable development to 2030 and beyond.
- Strengthen the capacity of developing-country participants: including LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS to translate VNR experience and SDG data into accelerated national action.
- Produce a consolidated set of messages spanning global capacity building, subregional SDG progress and development cooperation, to inform the APFSD and HLPF processes.
Date and Venue
The 2026 Sustainable Development Week will take place in Incheon City, Republic of Korea, from 19 to 23 October 2026, in person.
Language
The 2026 Sustainable Development Week will be conducted in English.
Outputs and Follow-up
The SDTF is expected to produce a non-negotiated consolidated outcome document capturing (a) global capacity-building messages from the SDTF core days, (b) subregional SDG progress messages for the 14th APFSD and HLPF 2027, and (c) development cooperation and partnership commitments. It will be published on the UNOSD website and transmitted to the APFSD and the 2027 HLPF 2027 and SDG Summit preparatory processes.
Organizers
The 2026 Sustainable Development Week is jointly organized by the United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD), UN DESA Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG), and the ESCAP Subregional Office for East and North-East Asia (ESCAP-ENEA) with the support of the Government of the Republic of Korea (Ministry of Environment / Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Incheon Metropolitan City, Incheon National University, and Yonsei University.
