Gearing Up for Global Goals Week 2024

Your UNGA Essentials Checklist

StartingUpGood
StartingUpGood Magazine
8 min readSep 11, 2024

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Thousands of global citizens will descend on New York City in the coming weeks to talk sustainable development during the UN General Assembly (UNGA). Last year, we counted over 1,750 individual sessions at UNGA related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with most organized under the Global Goals Week umbrella of events.

SDG discussions during this year’s Global Goals Week, taking place September 20th to 29th, promise to be equally prolific. We’ll be following these conversations live and curating important content for our audiences on LinkedIn and Twitter/X.

Here’s your checklist for getting the most out of UNGA79:

  • Identify which events you want to follow (see below for our top suggestions).
  • Register for virtual or in-person attendance as required.
  • Stay tuned — we’ll add more details and possibly expand our suggested events list as additional information becomes available.
  • Follow StartingUpGood and SDGCounting for highlights and insights.

Top Events

Note: You can skip ahead to any of the events listed above to see why we follow it, a short description, and a link to its main webpage.

Global Goals Week

20–29 September | in-person and online

Why Follow: The Global Goals Week website is your one-stop-shop for what’s happening and ways to get involved, with an interactive event finder and community resources.

The countries of the United Nations made a universal promise to leave no one behind in achieving a peaceful and prosperous world by 2030. Global Goals Week is a shared commitment between 170+ partners across civil society, business, academia, and the UN system to accelerate action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially during the UN General Assembly High-level Week. It is also an opportunity to speak out as one voice, share ideas and transformative solutions in the fight to recover better from global challenges.

UN Summit of the Future

22–23 September (with Action Days on 20–21 September) | in-person

Why Follow: Touted as the centerpiece of UNGA79, the Summit of the Future is expected to conclude with Member State adoption of the Pact for the Future, the Global Digital Compact, and a Declaration for Future Generations.

This once-in-a-generation opportunity serves as a moment to mend eroded trust and demonstrate that international cooperation can effectively tackle current challenges as well as those that have emerged in recent years or may yet be over the horizon… The Summit of the Future will look at the “how” — how do we cooperate better to deliver on the above aspiration and goals? How do we better meet the needs of the present while also preparing for the challenges of the future?

Registration to attend Action Days in-person is free but closed on September 6th.

Learn more on the UN website or read 5 things to know about the UN’s landmark Summit of the Future.

Concordia Annual Summit

23–25 September | in-person with online content expected to be available

Why Follow: Concordia’s commitment to a diverse representation of perspectives means that the Annual Summit consistently fosters interesting dialogue and delivers on effective partnership creation between prominent business, government, and nonprofit leaders.

Concordia presents Navigating a New Era, its theme for its 14th Annual Summit, providing the preeminent forum for the private sector and equipping the Concordia community with the network and platform to understand the unique challenges and opportunities presented by today’s global environment — along with the tools and partnerships to build for tomorrow.

In-person attendance requires registration and payment. Summit content has historically been posted on Concordia’s YouTube channel following the event.

Gates Foundation Goalkeepers 2024

23 September | in-person with content expected to be available online

Why Follow: This glitzy event may be higher on entertainment value than content, but it brings much-needed attention to the deserving social entrepreneurs who are innovating solutions to achieve the SDGs.

This year, Goalkeepers invites you to focus on solutions to keep people healthy and nourished in a rapidly warming world. Together the world must focus on ensuring better nutrition for all so that everyone can reach their full potential.

The event has historically been available to watch live on YouTube.

MIT Solve Challenge Finals

23 September | in-person with content expected to be available online

Why Follow: Here’s your chance to hear pitches from MIT Solve’s newest cohort of 30 entrepreneurs chosen from 2,200+ applications from 130 countries while networking with like-minded industry leaders and peers.

Solve Challenge Finals is an unparalleled opportunity to be at the forefront of innovation in service of a better world. This event, hosted annually in New York City, unveils Solve’s latest cohort of innovators and their solutions to our Global Challenges. Attendees gather to meet innovators from all over the world, hear them pitch their solutions, and watch them win funding from a more-than $1 million prize pool to catalyze scale.

Request an invite to attend in person. Pitches have historically been posted on MIT Solve’s YouTube channel following the event.

Clinton Global Initiative 2024 Annual Meeting

24–26 September | in-person and online

Why Follow: The cache of the Clintons brings star-power and attention to what’s working to address pressing global challenges.

CGI brings together business, government, and civil society leaders to drive progress on climate resilience, inclusive economic growth and recovery, health equity, the full participation of women and girls, and humanitarian response efforts to crises around the globe.

Free registration via the CGI website is required to watch virtually. View the speaker announcement, which includes Prince Harry and Matt Damon.

WEF Sustainable Development Impact Meetings

23–27 September | in-person with content expected to be available online

Why Follow: The World Economic Forum convenes powerful people wherever it meets.

Drawing on the Forum’s dedicated communities of purpose, business leaders, policymakers, international and civil society organizations, innovators and social entrepreneurs will convene in person for a series of carefully curated impact-driven leaders’ dialogues.

Free registration to WEF’s web portal is required to access content online.

Business Fights Poverty Global Goals Summit 2024

24–26 September | in-person and online

Why Follow: Catering to both in-person (NYC, Nairobi) and virtual participants, the BFP Global Goals Summit’s hybrid format allows participants to share experiences and workshop solutions.

Join us for inspiring fireside chats, interactive workshops, and deep-dive clinics at our hybrid Summit. Together, we’ll explore, ‘How can businesses build partnerships that are fit for the future?’ Our goal is to create a renewed vision for business action on poverty, inequality, and climate change.

Register for free virtual participation using promo code BFPGGS24.

UN Global Compact Leaders Summit 2024

24 September | in-person and online

Why Follow: While not everyone can join the UN’s Global Compact, everyone can access the information and insights shared by prominent business leaders during the Summit’s plenary sessions.

The Leaders Summit is the UN Global Compact’s dynamic day-long conference dedicated to providing the tools, network, knowledge, and inspiration needed to scale the impact of private sector contributions to the 2030 Agenda. With inspiring keynotes, interactive breakouts, along with networking experiences, it’s a can’t miss event for anyone committed to raising the bar on sustainability and shaping the future of responsible business.

Register for free to view the livestream of all Plenary Sessions.

Additionally, the UN Global Compact will host the Private Sector Forum luncheon on September 23rd and the SDG Investment Forum on September 26th. Both are in-person and invitation-only events.

Devex Summit at UNGA79

25–26 September | in-person and online

Why Follow: Devex journalists don’t shy away from the tough conversations on topics like Summit of the Future outcomes, the future of ESG, harnessing AI for development, shaping the future of the internet, and how capitalism and humanitarianism can coexist.

The Devex summit, The Future Can’t Wait: Shaping Tomorrow, Today, will tackle four critical themes: Adapting to a changing planet; Innovating for global health and well-being; Partnering for a better future; Renewing trust and rethinking systems. Be part of dynamic debates, uncover opportunities, and explore big ideas to enhance global development cooperation with the Devex reporting team.

Request to attend in-person or register to join online via Zoom for the livestream. Content has historically been posted on Devex’s YouTube channel following the event.

12th Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD)

19–21 September | in-person and online

Why Follow: This precursor to the UN’s Summit of the Future promises the opportunity for participants to share practical solutions for achieving the SDGs at local and national levels across seven major themes including discussions on AI and ESG.

The theme of the 2024 ICSD is “Solutions for the Future”. The aim of the conference is to bring together persons involved in research, policy, practice, and business, in advance of the 2024 United Nations Summit of the Future… The first day, September 19, will feature all the abstract research presentations in parallel sessions, virtually and accommodating all time zones. The second and third days of the conference, September 20–21, will feature the ‘high-level segment’ and will feature keynote addresses from UN leaders and heads of state, as well as panels with world-renowned experts.

Register for the virtual parallel sessions or request to attend the ‘high-level segment’ in-person or watch the livestream for Day 1 or Day 2 via YouTube.

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Check out SDGCounting for the latest news on tracking the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals. #SDGs #GlobalGoals.

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StartingUpGood
StartingUpGood Magazine

Supporting fresh entrepreneurial approaches to do good in the world. Check out our magazine: https://medium.com/startingupgood