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Rice farming in Madagascar. © Africa Renewal

Sustainable development

We support parliaments in implementing the SDGs with a particular focus on health and climate change.
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With only a few years left to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), mobilizing parliaments around the global development agenda is becoming increasingly urgent. Parliament’s legislative, oversight and budget responsibilities make it a key player in, for example, reducing social and economic inequalities, improving the health of the people it represents and taking action to save the planet from the climate emergency.  

Through our increasingly popular regional seminars, workshops and meetings on the SDGs, we help MPs exchange with peers, acquire up-to-date information and take action to advance the development agenda at home and internationally.

Our self-assessment SDG toolkit, produced with the United Nations Development Programme and translated into a dozen languages, is also proving very successful. The toolkit helps parliamentarians identify good practices, opportunities and lessons learned on how to institutionalize and mainstream the SDGs into the legislative process.

IPU Members also have a dedicated Committee on Sustainable Development, Finance and Trade  that meets at every Assembly.

Sustainable development

Sustainable Development Goals

Our role is to help parliaments achieve the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and helping them prepare for its implementation.

Healthy people

We focus on cutting childhood death rates, improving the health of women and adolescents, and boosting HIV/AIDS care—all areas targeted in for action in the Sustainable Development Goals.
Latest news and stories on sustainable development
China

31/07/2025

Chinese Parliament and the IPU reinforce their partnership

Trustee Council Chamber

04/02/2025

IPU Parliamentary Hearing at the UN to focus on the SDGs

sdgs

31/01/2025

New IPU toolkit to empower parliaments to deliver on the SDGs

Beijing

22/08/2024

China celebrates 40 years of affiliation to the IPU

hlpf 2024

18/07/2024

Good governance and climate change: IPU Forum highlights role of parliaments in tackling global goals

Latest publications on sustainable development

SDG-informed legislative scrutiny

Parliaments have a key role to play in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by adopting solid legislative frameworks that duly take into account the interdisciplinary natu

Responding to climate change in the mountains: Opportunities for parliamentarians to act

This Issues brief is designed to help parliamentarians identify policies and actions to adapt to the consequences of climate change in mountain ecoysystems. 

The path towards universal health coverage

Universal health coverage (UHC) means that all people have access to the health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship.

Related events

Parliamentary Forum at the 2026 UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

Jul142026
This year’s Parliamentary Forum will begin with a focus on SDG 11 on sustainable cities and communities, one of five goals under review at the 2026 HLPF.

Regional seminar: African parliaments for climate action: Reducing methane, promoting development

May152026
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Nairobi, Kenya

Organized by the IPU and the Parliament of Kenya, in cooperation with Climate Parliament, will bring together parliamentarians from across Africa to exchange views, share experiences and strengthen parliamentary engagement on climate action, including through reducing methane emissions.

Can reducing methane emissions build a healthier, more sustainable future?

Dec112025
A collaborative dialogue among parliaments, governments, civil society and experts