Value proposition

Mobilizing global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical solutions for sustainable development.

The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) works under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General to mobilize the world’s universities, think tanks, and national laboratories for action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change; empower societies through free online education; and translate scientific evidence and ideas into solutions and accountability.

Established in 2012 by the former UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, and world-renowned economist and professor, Jeffrey Sachs, the SDSN promotes integrated approaches to implement the SDGs and the Paris Agreement, through education, research, policy analysis, and global cooperation.

We operate at the intersection between science, policy, and development practice to maximize SDG achievements at the global, regional, national, and local levels. In collaboration with UN agencies, multilateral financing institutions, the private sector, governments, academia, and civil society, the SDSN supports science-based pathways for SDG implementation, promotes independent monitoring and accountability for sustainable development, develops science-based feedback loops to identify persisting gaps and priorities for sustainable development and adapt long-term SDG policies and pathways, and fosters peer-to-peer learning and exchange to promote the identification of best practices and local solutions, as well as global and regional cooperation to achieve the SDGs.