From ambition to impact: putting transport at the heart of the SDGs and the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport

From 7 to 15 July, the world takes stock of the Sustainable Development Goals at UN Headquarters in New York. Three of the goals under review this year, on energy, infrastructure and cities, cannot be met without transport. SLOCAT is in New York to make that case, and to turn a decade of ambition into something we can measure, track and accelerate.

What is the HLPF?

The High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) is the United Nations’ central platform for reviewing progress on the 2030 Agenda. In 2026 it convenes from 7 to 15 July at UN Headquarters in New York under the auspices of ECOSOC, with a three-day ministerial segment from 13 to 15 July. This year’s theme is “Transformative, equitable, innovative and coordinated actions for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals for a sustainable future for all.”

The Forum carries out in-depth reviews of five goals: SDG 6 on water and sanitation, SDG 7 on energy, SDG 9 on infrastructure and innovation, SDG 11 on sustainable cities and communities, and SDG 17 on partnerships. Thirty-six countries will present Voluntary National Reviews of their progress.

Why this matters for transport. Transport has no standalone SDG, yet it runs through almost all of them. Three of the five goals under review this year are transport goals in all but name:

• SDG 7 (energy). Transport still draws 95.4% of its power from fossil fuels, a share barely changed in fifty years. A clean energy transition is not possible without a clean transport transition, and electrification only counts as progress when the grid behind it is renewable.
• SDG 9 (infrastructure). Freight and logistics keep the global economy moving while driving one of the fastest-rising emissions curves in the whole sector.
• SDG 11 (cities). Whether people can actually reach a public transport stop, captured by SDG indicator 11.2.1, decides whether a city is inclusive or exclusionary. Today barely half the world’s urban population has convenient access, and the share falls below 40% across much of Africa, South Asia and Central America.

The review of these three goals makes HLPF 2026 a defining moment for the sustainable transport community.

A decisive moment for the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport

HLPF 2026 is the first Forum since the UN General Assembly launched the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport (2026 to 2035), the first ever decade dedicated to the sector. The Decade’s first annual stocktake takes place here, in New York, only months after it began. The timing is not incidental. This is the moment that sets the tone for the next ten years.

The stakes are clear in the numbers. Transport is the second largest and fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. Closing the investment gap will take around USD 2.7 trillion a year to 2050, seven times what was invested in 2023, and still less than the USD 7 trillion the world spends each year subsidising fossil fuels. The constraint is not financial. It is political.

A decade of action is the tool to shift that balance. But a decade is only as credible as the evidence behind it. Declarations do not cut emissions or lift people out of transport poverty. Tracked, comparable, transparent progress does.

The occasion to advance a Global Goal for Transport

A decade needs a destination. The UN Decade sets the direction, but the sector still has no shared, quantified goal to aim at. Transport remains fragmented across institutions, frameworks, commitments and levels of government, with no common objective to align action. The consequences are visible in national climate plans, where transport commitments are significant but uneven in scope, ambition and delivery.

SLOCAT is convening the transport community to change that, by anchoring a single, politically resonant Global Goal for Transport built on three pillars:

• • expanding inclusive access to low-carbon transport
  • phasing out fossil fuels by scaling up renewable and zero-emission energy
  • reducing the sector’s overall energy demand

HLPF 2026 is where that work moves from idea to process. SLOCAT is opening the global consultation on the goal and its supporting targets this year, and convenes a strategic workshop with ITDP in New York to define the criteria the goal must meet. A goal gives the Decade a north star. Monitoring tells us whether we are moving towards it. Together, they are how ambition becomes impact.

Where to find SLOCAT at HLPF 2026

Across the opening days of the Forum, SLOCAT helps connect three questions into a single arc: where the Decade stands, how we will measure its progress, and where the sector is heading.

UN Decade of Sustainable Transport Annual Stocktake 2026

7 July, 11:00 to 13:00 | UN Headquarters, Conference Room CR-11 Special Event, organised by UN DESA. The first annual stocktake of the newly launched Decade, taking the measure of the sector’s role in accelerating the SDGs. Secretary General Carly Gilbert-Patrick joins the panel.

Ambition to Impact: Connecting the SDGs and the UN Decade for Sustainable Transport through Monitoring

7 July, 13:15 to 14:30 | UN Headquarters, Conference Room CR-F Official Side Event, co-hosted by SLOCAT, GIZ, WRI, CCG, ADB, UK FCDO, TDC, IDRC and UNCRD, with opening and closing remarks from Secretary General Carly Gilbert-Patrick. This session puts monitoring at the centre of the Decade: how we track progress, hold it to account, and showcase what works, anchored to SDG 7, SDG 9 and SDG 11.

Strategic Workshop for a Transport North Star: A Unified Global Transport Goal for the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport and the SDGs

8 July, 09:00 to 12:00 | ITDP Office, 9 East 19th Street, 7th Floor, New York (invite only) Off-site Side Event, co-hosted by SLOCAT and ITDP. This expert session kicks off the global consultation on a Global Goal for Transport, reviewing existing targets and frameworks and aligning on the criteria a credible goal and its targets must meet.

Advancing the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport (2026-2035): Partnerships, Data-Driven Solutions and Coordinated Action

8 July, 13:15 to 14:30 | UN Headquarters, Conference Room CR-11 A complementary session convened by the Permanent Mission of Turkmenistan to the United Nations, advancing the Decade’s agenda on partnerships, data and coordinated action.

Join us in New York

The 2030 Agenda is at its halfway point, the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport has just begun, and the case for a Global Goal for Transport is being made now. HLPF 2026 is where these threads meet. If you will be in New York for the Forum, come and be part of it.