HSC 2026 – new alliances for sustainable global development

Around 1,600 participants from 115 countries – from governments, international organisations, the private sector, academia, and civil society – came together in late June at the third Hamburg Sustainability Conference. The discussions at this year’s HSC underscored the growing need for dialogue and international cooperation.

“The Hamburg Sustainability Conference 2026 demonstrated that international cooperation remains possible, even in difficult times, when the right actors come together,” said HSC Chair Achim Steiner towards the end of the conference. And German Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan added: “No country can secure peace, combat hunger or ensure economic stability on its own. The Hamburg Sustainability Conference demonstrates that partnerships lead to concrete action.” Here, the minister referred to the various alliances which the participants had agreed at the conference.

South-North Commission is to promote fair partnerships

The South-North Commission on Development, which had already been discussed for some time, was presented as one of the most important alliances. Co-chaired by former Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla and former German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the Commission is to advance reforms for fairer, more effective and sustainable international partnerships. It builds on the legacy of the Independent Commission on International Development Issues – better known as the North-South or the Brandt Commission – which ran from 1977 to 1980 under the chairmanship of former German Chancellor Willy Brandt.

According to Alabali Radovan, the Commission is “an independent body composed of a balanced mix of about twenty high-ranking representatives of the Global South and North”. The Commissioners are to be named by the two Co-Chairs. Members will include representatives of international organisations, national and regional institutions, academia, the private sector and civil society. Think-tanks and research institutions are to be invited to draw up studies and analyses to accompany the Commission's work. Parallel regional consultations in Africa, Europe, Latin America and Asia are to accompany the Commission's regular meetings.

The outcomes of the Commission's work are meant to inform international reform processes and provide guidance for the future course of Germany's development policy.

Addressing the impact of the Strait of Hormuz blockade

Moreover, Germany, Sierra Leone, the United Kingdom and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) presented a joint declaration on addressing the impact of the Strait of Hormuz blockade on the Global South. The declaration calls for coordinated support to address rising energy, food and fertiliser prices and to strengthen resilience in vulnerable countries. In particular, the aim is to make agriculture and food production more resilient to external shocks and to step up the expansion of and transition to renewable energy.

In addition, a wide range of further initiatives were newly established or extended at the HSC. A selection follows.

Nutrition and health

As part of the 1,000 Days Initiative for Food Security, which focuses on the critical first 1,000 days of a child's life, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), together with private sector partners from the food and chemical industries, partner countries and international organisations such as UNICEF and the World Food Programme, launched a joint Call to Action on catalysing large-scale food fortification to end child malnutrition by 2030. The initiative aims to advance concrete measures to improve nutrition during the first 1,000 days of children's lives world-wide.

In response to the Ebola epidemic, government representatives from African and other supporting countries, as well as representatives of relevant international organisations, came together for a coordination group meeting. The participants reaffirmed concrete support measures to address the acute situation and called for continued close coordination among all stakeholders to contain the Ebola outbreak.

Equality and resilient growth

The Global Alliance Against Inequality welcomed new members and agreed on a Joint Statement. Launched at HSC 2025, the alliance aims to collectively tackle systemic income, wealth and opportunity disparities. It prioritises the reduction of inequality on the global policy agenda by fostering evidence-based solutions and cross-regional cooperation.

BMZ, SAP SE, the World Bank Group and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) signed a Joint Communiqué on closing the global skills and labour gap. The communiqué responds to geopolitical tensions and demographic shifts that are reshaping global labour markets, and highlights employment, skills development and talent mobility as strategic resources for competitiveness and resilient growth.

St. Kitts and Nevis, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, and “Stadtreinigung Hamburg” (Hamburg city cleaning) agreed on the formation of a new skills partnership. A trainee pilot project commences in August 2026.

Financing initiatives

The SCALED (Scaling Capital for Sustainable Development) initiative announced the launch of a new company, with Germany and Canada as public partners and Allianz, La Caisse and Zurich Insurance Group as private sector partners. SCALED develops standardised financial products to mobilise sustainable investment in the Global South.

The ICAMA (Innovative Capital Mobilisation in Africa) initiative presented first major implementation successes on innovative investment in start-ups and SMEs in Africa. Through ICAMA, private capital is being mobilised for start-ups and small businesses on the continent, with a focus on innovation and job creation. In Ghana, 35 million US dollars has already been made available for investment.

UNDP launched the first climate insurance product in Latin America and the Caribbean, integrated into national social protection systems.

(HSC/sri)