Science for a Sustainable Future

A partnership for the Sustainable Development Goals

SN SDG logo © Springer Nature 2019Science for a Sustainable Future (SFSF) is a joint initiative of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and Springer Nature. 

This annual event, now in its sixth year, brings together policymakers, government representatives, UN officials and leading global scientists to discuss and advance the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Science for a Sustainable Future 2026

This year's event, From Research to Action: Science, Policy, and Innovation for Ending Deforestation, will be opened by renowned Earth System scientist and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Professor Carlos Nobre FRS, and will take place alongside the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COIP17) and focus on the urgent challenge of deforestation, especially in the Amazon.

Thursday, 22nd October 2026 2-3 pm CET | 8-9 am EST

Despite growing international commitments to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030, deforestation continues at an alarming rate globally, threatening biodiversity, accelerating climate change, and undermining the livelihoods of millions who depend on forests. Nonetheless, the Amazon remains one of the world's most critical and vulnerable ecosystems and is quickly approaching a tipping point. Bringing together leading researchers and practitioners from diverse disciplines, this webinar will explore how locally grounded research and community-led knowledge can inform effective policy responses to deforestation and drive locally grounded solutions. 

Speakers will examine the current state of deforestation and showcase a range of mitigation approaches, including innovative financial mechanisms, such as the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, legal and governance frameworks, advances in data and monitoring, and the perspectives and leadership of Indigenous Peoples and youth in forest conservation. By highlighting how evidence is translated into policy across different contexts, the webinar aims to foster cross-sector dialogue on integrated, equitable, and science-based pathways to curb deforestation and protect the world's critical forest ecosystems.

> Please register to join us on 22nd October 2026 for this exciting conversation

Science for a Sustainable Future 2025

Last year's event focused on the question 'What is needed to make the SDGs happen by 2030?' and comprised 2 webinars on topics that provide helpful answers: the value of a strong connection between science, research and policy, and the importance of data in advancing the goals, especially SDG 4.

We invite you to find out more: read the summary blog post, or watch the recordings, download the policy briefs and check out our visual summaries of the events:


Impacting SDG policy: the role of science and research in driving sustainable change

Science and research can offer solutions, so how can we make sure that the most relevant and reliable science and research have an impact on policy and ultimately, the SDGs themselves? This session showcased best practice examples of policy and research collaboration and identified tangible recommendations to ensure policy makers and researchers work closely together for the benefit of global society.


Since the goals were ratified, the world has changed: a recent World Economic Forum survey found that disinformation is one of the top global risks for 2025. We have to be able to trust information in order to make effective decisions and policies, and happily, the evidence tells us that trust in scientists is high (Cologna et. al. in Nature Human Behaviour).
 

Science for a Sustainable Future 2025: Impacting SDG Policy (summary)

10 years of ‘A World that Counts’: where has the data revolution taken us in global education?

The launch of the 2014 UN report, A World that Counts, marked a continued and growing view that data and efforts to align national outcomes with global indicators would inevitably achieve the UN’s vision for a sustainable future.  
Now 10 years on from the report’s launch and with only 5 years left of the SDG timeline, where has this data revolution taken us?


The centrality of metrics and measurement associated with the 2030 Agenda has been highlighted as a key innovation on past agendas, but important threads of commentary are worthy of exploration after a decade of data driven action and policy. This session asked whether SDG data has been impactful, relevant, and sufficient to provoke the progress needed to meet global aspirations in education. 

Science for a Sustainable Future 2025: 10 years of a world that counts (summary)

Science for a Sustainable Future 2024

To mark Earth Month 2024, three panels were held on topics in need of further investigation and which complemented the focus of the 2024 UN Summit for the Future.

We invite you to find out more: Watch the recordings, download the policy briefs, read our summary blog and check out our visual summaries.


Adapting Health Systems to Climate Change

Human health cannot be considered in isolation: it must be reviewed in the context of planetary health if we are to achieve SDGs 3 and 13. This session looked at the connection between human, planet and animal health. What can civil society and governments learn from science?

SFSF24 Adapting Health Systems to Climate Change

Beyond GDP: finding the right measure for progress

Is GDP the right supra metric for measuring progress towards the SDGs? Never designed as a metric for welfare, its continued use conflicts with metrics more relevant to well-being and social progress. How can new metrics be developed in an inclusive way?

SFSF24 Beyond GDP

Migration: the missing link and global implications

Migration is a topic dominating newsrooms from a political perspective, yet the real implications of global migration are closely connected to biodiversity, food systems, climate and more. This session asked how we can effectively measure, predict and respond to migration.

SFSF24 Migration

Reflections from our panellists

We spoke to the panellists from each of the three sessions about the messages and points that stood out to them the most.

The experts - who discussed the connection between human, animal and planetary health, migration and impact metrics beyond GDP - also shared a message for those attending the UN’s Summit of the Future in September 2024.

Science for a Sustainable Future 2023

In 2023, we hosted three webinars on energy and science communication, energy and social justice, and energy and the transition to net zero. 

Watch the webinars below and hear from the panellists as they reflect on their key takeaways from each session. 

Discover the key policy recommendations by downloading the  Policy Brief: Delivering Clean, Affordable Energy For All.

Energy in the transition to Net Zero

Energy and Social Justice in the Global South

Energy and Science Communications

Reflections from our Expert Panelists

Learning from Crises - from COVID to Climate

In 2021, Springer Nature and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) brought experts together from across industries and disciplines for a virtual event to coincide with climate conference COP26.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that the world can act with urgency to tackle the biggest crises; it has demonstrated that the focused and coordinated efforts of global experts can lead to radical changes in global mobility, economies, and entirely new vaccines. It has also highlighted the crucial importance of tackling misinformation and motivated ignorance, encouraging individual behaviours that benefit society collectively, and shown how structural inequalities dictate who is most affected - issues with clear parallels to the climate crisis. How can the lessons from the covid-19 global emergency inform climate action?

Watch the recording

Learning from Crisis: COVID to Climate

Lessons from COVID-19 for Climate Change

The COVID-19 pandemic showed us that the world is capable of acting with urgency to tackle crises on a global scale. It demonstrated that the focused and coordinated efforts of global experts can lead to rapid and radical changes to address an emerging threat – for example in global mobility, ways of working, and medical advances. 

It also highlighted the crucial importance of tackling misinformation, demonstrated that individual behaviors can benefit society collectively, and showed how structural inequalities predetermine who is most affected and how - all issues that have clear parallels to the climate crisis.

This white paper explores the development of strategies through an interdisciplinary approach to motivate behaviour change, tackle misinformation and address inequality in times of crises.

Download the white paper

Harnessing Science for a Sustainable Future

Download the white paper

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about mass global disruption and presented a significant setback to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet, it paved the way for more science-informed decision-making, enabling the research, scientific, and policy communities to join together like never before, and proving the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to combating crisis, developing effective policies, and accelerating innovation. 

In May 2021, on the sidelines of the UN Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology, and Innovation, Springer Nature and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) hosted a virtual debate on how to bridge the divide between the research and policy communities to accelerate innovation on the SDGs and build resiliency post COVID-19. The debate also drew on insights from a white paper on how to foster greater collaboration and inclusive problem-solving between these communities.

About SDSN

SDSN © SDSNThe UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) was established in 2012 under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General.

SDSN mobilizes global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical solutions for sustainable development, including the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. SDSN works closely with United Nations agencies, multilateral financing institutions, the private sector, and civil society.