How do you combine everything local to global, economic, social and environmental, public sector, private sector, civil society and with a timely dose of UK government?
Global Goals Week: Liverpool 2024 was again the impossible puzzle with almost unlimited potential. This year was about attempting to align the United Nations plans for their Summit of the Future announcements and world leaders at the General Assembly (UNGA), corral with Labour Party Conference and Ministerial schedules, and added to the beauty of Liverpool's infinite energy for the art of the possible.
Every year for five years now 2030hub launches Global Goals Week: Liverpool (GGWL), ignites SDG-connected fires and somehow manages to knit many of those together for one powerful week of coordinated and connected events and communications.
Despite the few usual hidden set-backs, which are always the case when you push so hard for progress, or as the tech community prefers, move fast and break things, we managed to create or support events for hundreds of people, amplified multiple launches, unleashed a new GGW Ambassador, and co-hosted two particularly spectacular and impactful events.
The purpose of GGWL is to help Liverpool City Region better understand and accelerate local sustainability communities and actions, but not in isolation. GGWL is also about helping those same leaders, communities and stakeholders understand how their roles can, and should be also as global citizens helping the furthest behind wherever they may be. Each year 2030hub ensures support for the key global UN themes and facilitates a balanced parallel local focus where SDGs energy is greatest or needed most.
For 2024, we chose the emerging Pact for the Future as a guiding framework to plan activities. Our initial aim was to focus on finance for sustainability, science / technology and innovation, and youth and future generations, whilst also continuing to nurture built-environment, visitor economy and climate action movements. We were unable to turn the flagship finance event into reality, even with internationally influential speakers confirmed, due to unforeseen late circumstances, but that will happen one day, just later than hoped!
There were so many highlights, new conversations, opportunities, insight, and actions it will take some time to fully capture all that was created in and around Liverpool but here is what last weeks' rearview mirror looks like...
The policy direction for our young people
Youth Quake, which was run by the Youth Combined Authority, kicked off the weekend of the Summit of the Future with a robust debate of all the main devolved powers of Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, and ended with a passionate discussion about the need for a role for the SDGs in local policy evolution and direct delivery.
New academic climate focal point
Liverpool John Moores University announced the upcoming launch of the new Liverpool Research Institute for Climate and Sustainability (LiRICS) to accelerate world-leading research around climate and sustainability. 2030hub's David Connor has agreed to join their Advisory Dialogue Board.
A powerful new local voice
Local ownership and relevancy are key to effective engagement with the SDGs, and we have always had informal local superstars as allies and friends. This year we wanted to step that up and start building a team of independent, brave, successful, formal GGW Ambassadors, and Sophia Polson led the way. Sophia's story and long-time support were the perfect combination to be our first GGW Ambassador and to also take the lead on building a bigger team.
Sophia, a professional photographer and communicator, shared her very personal story of her trip to spend time with the Kayapo indigenous peoples of the Amazon rainforest at a super cosy early event that helped us all better connect to the images we may take a little for granted these days. It was like having our very own Sophia Attenborough around for the week!
Global Goals Treasure Hunt
2030hub supported Puzzleduck to create a digital educational tour of Liverpool City Region via an app to connect global SDG Goals and Targets to key visitor locations and localised data to help people better understand what they are, and how the Global Goals can support everyone, and have fun on social media whilst they're doing it!
What is the role of culture in sustainable development?
We proudly co-hosted, with the British Council and UNESCO, an international expert panel debate into how sustainability and SDGs in culture and heritage shape how we connect with others, how we see the challenges around us, and how we choose to respond to them There was standing room only at the spectacular British Music Experience for an audience from all over the UK. Check out British Council's 'The Missing Foundation' Report here.
Liverpool announced as UN Accelerator City
Liverpool has become the world’s first ‘Accelerator City’ for climate action, under UN Climate Change’s Entertainment and Culture for Climate Action (ECCA) programme.
The title comes in recognition of Liverpool’s impressive commitment to innovation and smart regulation to rapidly decarbonise the live music and TV/Film production sectors – both vital parts of the city’s economy – following several years of developmental work by ACT 1.5, an artist-led research and action effort, and climate scientists from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.
Building Sustainable Cities Beyond 2030
Last year GGW helped ignite the local debate on the role of the built environment with an event that led to the creation of the Liverpool City Region Sustainable Property Group. This year that group took the same concept and took it up several gears to fill the iconic St George's Hall with hundreds of private, public and third-sector organisations eager to accelerate their positive impacts across the City Region.
We'll share a fuller impact report for GGW just as soon as we've gathered the feedback from all the local stakeholders.
GGW Ambassador Sophia shared her key takeaways from 2024's campaign:
- We need deep authenticity and to constantly question the work we are doing for and with local communities.
- It is vital that all community voices are heard and acknowledged
- Storytelling creates meaningful change, as the mechanism to share trusted wisdom as it has for centuries
- There is real beauty in knowledge sharing, collaboration and transparency - both our wins but also our losses as we learn together
We guarantee that 2025 will be even bigger for GGW with 2030hub announcing a global call to action to all cities and towns across the globe to host a Global Goals Week event or campaign
