Progressing the Sustainability Agenda for Public Bodies | ONLINE
25 September 2025
11:00–12:30
ONLINE
This Governance Forum event coincides with the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the United Nations in September 2015 (the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs). The Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change, was subsequently adopted in December 2015.
Sustainable development informs how we must live today if we want a better tomorrow. It requires making choices now to balance economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection to ensure future generations can continue to meet their own needs. Ten years on, and with only five years to meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda, it is timely to reflect and consider how public bodies are playing their role in embedding, and embodying, the Sustainable Development Goals.
All civil and public sector bodies have a critical role to play in working towards the national objective of ‘pursuing and achieving, by no later than the end of the year 2050, the transition to a climate resilient, biodiversity rich, environmentally sustainable and climate neutral economy.’ But sustainability has a wider lens than climate action alone. Public bodies are required to report on their efforts to reduce carbon emissions and also their wider sustainability efforts. The Annual Report, as the key expression of public performance reporting and accountability, must reflect these efforts.
The final line-up for this event will be announced in due course. A panel of expert speakers from across the public sector will consider:
- The public sector’s leadership role in the implementation and embedding/progressing of SDGs.
- How public bodies can align with SDGs and sustainability reporting frameworks and embed this in their strategies and performance reporting.
- Good practice examples of organisations which have taken a leadership role on sustainability
- Key considerations for Boards and Senior Teams in progressing the SDGs