The entire history of ESDN Conferences can be found below in the Conference Archive. Simply click on one of the orange buttons below.
Conferences are the ESDN's flagship event. They take place each year on topical issues facing Europe when it comes to sustainable development. Since 2015 and the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the ESDN has focused on this as a driving force behind its work in fostering exchange, peer learning, trust, and so much more to further the goal of successful implementation and fulfilment of the SDGs.
A photo gallery of ESDN Conferences from the past few years can also be found below, as well as an archive of all Confereces over the ESDN's long history dealing with sustainable development issues.
The ESDN Conference 2025 took place on 25-26 November in Copenhagen!
The title of this year’s conference was “Post-2030 Agenda: 10 Years of SDG Implementation and Ideas for a Future Agenda” and will be organized together with Nordregio and the Nordic Council of Ministers at the Nordic Council of Ministers’ headquarters in Copenhagen.
With 10 years of SDG implementation behind us, it is a good point in time to reflect on what has gone well with implementing the 2030 Agenda, what has not gone so well, and what will come next. We have 5 years remaining for implementation, and those years should be used to accelerate actions that are geared towards reaching the SDGs. At the same time, we should all be asking ourselves: What comes after the 2030 Agenda? Which processes and mechanisms have we developed over the last 10 years that we know work and that we know should be a part of any new sustainable development agenda?
The conference agenda and discussion paper can be found below. The conference Policy Note will be published within the next few weeks, so please check back for it.
Keynote and Exchange Space presentations can be found below.
Welcome and Opening
Tuesday, 25 November 2025
ESDN Opening
László Borbély, ESDN President, State Counsellor, and National SDG Coordinator, Prime Minister’s Office – Department of Sustainable Development, Romania
Host Welcome
Fanny Ejder, Senior Adviser in Sustainability, Nordic Council of Ministers, Denmark
Danish Perspective on the Post-2030 Agenda
Simon Kjær Hansen, Chair, Danish 2030 Panel, Denmark
Session 1: Lessons Learned from the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs
10 Years of SDG Implementation and Ideas for a Future Generation
Henrik Fredborg Larsen, Director, UNDP Nordic Representation Office, Denmark
Åsa Persson, Strategic Advisor and Researcher, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Climate Action Centre & Chair of the Swedish Climate Policy Council, Sweden
Financing Sustainable Development in Europe and Beyond
Andrija Erac, Global Head of Networks, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, France
Governance Mechanisms needed for a Post-2030 Agenda
Ernesto Soria Morales, Senior Policy Analyst and Head of Programme, Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development, Global Partnerships, Inclusion and Justice Division, OECD Public Governance Directorate, France
Panel Discussion
Exchange Space 1: 10 Years of SDG Implementation – Good practices from government (national, subnational, local, and urban)
Taru Savolainen, ESDN Vice President, Deputy Secretary General of the Finnish National Commission for Sustainable Development, Prime Minister’s Office, Finland
&
Satu Leino,Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland
Table 2: Results of the Austrian SDG Dialogue Forums
Anna Muner-Bretter, ESDN Advisory Board Member, Federal Chancellery, Austria
&
Melina Matzawrakos, ESDN Advisory Board Member, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Climate and Environmental Protection, Regions and Water Management, Austria
Table 3: Romania's Good Practices in Implementing SDGs
Ștefania Deak, ESDN Advisory Board Member, Head of Unit - Coordination, Implementation of Sustainable Development, Prime Minister’s Office – Department of Sustainable Development, Romania
Rae Cornish, ESDN Advisory Board Member, Deputy Director - Sustainable Futures, Welsh Government, Wales
Table 5: Norway - White paper, Green future – can citizens’ panels accelerate sustainable development?
Jesper-Tangenes Bæverfjord, Head of Analytics and Evaluation, Ministry of Digitalisation and Public Governance, Norway
Table 6: Insights from the Nordic Local Level on Advancing the 2030 Agenda and Shaping the Post- 2030 Agenda
Nora Sánchez Gassen, Senior Research Fellow, Nordregio, Sweden
&
Anna Berlina, Research Consultant, Nordregio, Sweden
Table 7: SDG46-Network
Eveliina Kiema-Majanen, Senior advisor on SDGs and Project Manager, Association of Finnish Cities and Municipalities, Finland
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Sanna Mari Huikuri, Development Manager, City Representative – Tampere, Finland
Table 8: Preparing for the Post-2030 Agenda – Looking at the subnational, local, and urban levels
Matthew Bach, Regional Director, ICLEI-Europe, Germany
Table 9: Importance of Stronger Youth Participation at the Regional Level – Case Study Styria
Sabine Schneeberger, SDG Coordinator – Styria, Austria
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Marvin Huber, ESDN Youth Network Representative, Austria
Session 2: Visions for the Post-2030 Global Goals
Wednesday, 26 November
Europe’s Environment and Climate Today and what it means for our Future
Catherine Ganzleben, Head of Unit on Fair and Sustainable Development, European Environment Agency, Denmark
Post-2030 Agenda Framework: Looking towards the future
Axel Berger, Interim Deputy Director at IDOS and Managing Director of SDSN Germany, Germany
Holistic Sustainability Assessment in Finland – Lessons learned
Saara Tamminen, Chief Specialist, Sustainability Evaluations, Strategy Department, Finnish Prime Minister’s Office, Finland
Youth Viewpoint on the Post-2030 Agenda (Presentation & Speech)
Jannat Ara Rahman, Youth Representative, ReGeneration 2030, Finland
&
Lennie Jansson, Youth Representative, ReGeneration 2030, Sweden
Exchange Space 2: Post-2030 AgendStakeholder Visions, Reflections and Proposals for the Next Global Goals
Table 1: Civil Society - Rethinking Agenda 2030
Helene Gjerding, Director, Danish 92-Group – Forum for Sustainable Development, Denmark
Table 2: Everyone Can Flourish – Vision, Philosophy and Governance Model
Micke Larsson, Co-creator of the Everyone Can Flourish Global Project, Åland Islands, Finland
Table 3: Beyond 2030: Youth Visions for Sustainable Security
Cara Borg Aquilina, ESDN Youth Network Member, Malta
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Erika Teixeira E Silva, ESDN Youth Network Member, Belgium
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Sofia Tokošová, ESDN Youth Network Member, Slovakia
Table 4: Advisory Councils on Sustainability – Criteria for Re-Baselining the Post-2030 Agenda
Wolfgang Lucht, German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) & Member of the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils Network (EEAC Network), Germany
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Cecilie Friis, Senior Advisor, CONCITO - Climate Laboratory, Denmark
Table 5: Global challenges are connected to resilient business - The success of the SDGs impact business
Sara Krüger Falk, Executive Director of the Global Compact Network Denmark, Denmark
Table 6: Artificial Intelligence and Sustainable Development – Swiss National Dialogue 2030
Fabrice Burri, ESDN Advisory Board Member and Scientific Collaborator, Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE), Switzerland
Table 7: Sustainable Food Systems and Rural Futures in the Post-2030 Agenda: Ensuring No One and No Place is Left Behind
Stoyan Tchoukanov, NAT Section President, European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), Bulgaria
Table 8: The Role of Science in Shaping the Post-2030 Framework
Therese Bennich, Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Sweden
