From the Arctic to Berlin, diverse scientific strategies drive SDG progress

22 July 2025 - Just days after the newly released Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025 revealed that only 35 per cent of targets are on track or showing moderate progress, Science Day at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development emerged as a platform to both acknowledge challenges and share actionable strategies to help translate science into progress for the 2030 Agenda.

“All the conversations that we tend to have on the SDGs go one way rather than the other: we know what to do, but we are simply not doing it,” said James Waddell, a Science Officer at the International Science Council. “And this is not because science or knowledge is lacking; it’s because we are lacking the means of implementation.”

That lack of implementation resources was not just about the estimated $4 trillion SDG financing gap, recently tackled at the Fourth International Financing for Development Conference (FFD4) in Sevilla, Spain.

In addition to funding, scientists need more effective strategies for adapting global concepts to local contexts, communicating the importance of their findings to policymakers, designing research projects at the intersection of disciplines, ensuring wider access to knowledge, and more.

The UN’s Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) and the annual Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (STI Forum) were highlighted as existing mechanisms and tools for scaling the voice of science globally and strengthening the science-policy-society interface for SDG implementation.

To bridge the gap between knowledge and action further, Science Day featured six case studies illustrating how science supports the 2030 Agenda—from Sámi reindeer husbandry in the Arctic to a government–science collaboration mechanism in Germany.


From fragmented solutions to institutionalized cross-sectoral scientific advice

As part of the latter case study, Dr. Annekathrin Ellersiek from the Research Institute for Sustainability and Marianne Beisheim of Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik—a German think tank specializing in foreign policy and security—shared the country’s example of the successful institutionalization of cross-sectoral scientific advice.

In the wake of adopting the 2030 Agenda, the German government recognized that achieving the SDGs would require a cross-sectoral, cross-disciplinary, whole-of-government approach. Yet, with 16 federal ministries—each advised by its own scientific board or council—the obstacle of fragmented, siloed solutions to the complex, interconnected challenges loomed large.

In response, a biannual dialogue event was launched to bring together all the relevant scientific councils. According to Ms. Beisheim, about 20 advisory councils from across the federal ministries and expertise sectors participate in the event “to translate our diverse expertise into integrated policy advice.”

“We present this idea to give you our lesson on how to institutionalize cross-sectoral science advice,” said Ms. Beisheim. “But having said that, for me, a key lesson learned also is that politics matter. Coherence at the advisory level can provide a solid foundation for, but it’s no guarantee for coherence in policy implementation.”

Among the strategies for addressing political barriers, such as the impact of national elections and shifting priorities, is creating opportunities for both formal and informal engagement between scientists and policymakers. The ministry representatives not only always attend at least some parts of each bi-annual dialogue but also build connections with scientists during what Ms. Beisheim called “long coffee breaks.”


Science Day, an inspirational call for action

The solution-oriented nature of this year’s Science Day became a unifying thread connecting various segments of the event.

“I think that we need to stop asking why science isn’t used and start asking, what have we done to make it usable?” said Dr. Yensi Flores-Bueso—a chair at the Global Young Academy—at the High-level Panel Discussion, which followed the case studies.

Permanent Representative of the Gambia to the United Nations, Lamin B. Dibba, highlighted the key pathways to leapfrog constraints, design contextual solutions, and build resilience with innovation at the end of the event.

Describing structural barriers in financing, technical capacity, and institutional developments that his country has faced in striving for sustainable development, he noted that “science must be more than a driver of innovation.”

“It must become a catalyst of justice, equity, and transformative change,” Mr. Dibba added.
 

For more information: Science Day 2025: Unlocking tomorrow’s solutions, today