The 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly will open with a gathering of world leaders from 23-27 September, who will participate in a series of summits and high-level meetings. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) will cover:

• The Climate Action Summit on 23 September;
• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit on 24 and 25 September;
• The High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development (FfD) on 26 September; and
• The High-Level Midterm Review of the Small Island Developing States Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway on 27 September.

The Climate Action Summit, convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, aims to boost ambition and accelerate actions to implement the Paris Agreement. Its aim is to challenge states, regions, cities, companies, investors and citizens to step up action in nine areas: mitigation; social and political drivers; youth and public mobilization; energy transition; climate finance and carbon pricing; industry transition; nature-based solutions; infrastructure, cities and local action; and resilience and adaptation. Guterres is calling on world leaders to come to the Summit with concrete, realistic plans to enhance their nationally determined contributions by 2020, in line with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent over the next decade, and to net zero emissions by 2050. The Summit will feed into the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process by contributing to the 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 25) to the UNFCCC in December 2019.

The SDG Summit, which is also the first High-level Political Forum (HLPF) to convene under the auspices of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, will follow up and review progress in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 SDGs, with just over a decade left to the target date of 2030. The Summit will feature six “Leaders Dialogues” on: megatrends impacting the achievement of the SDGs; accelerating the achievement of the SDGs: critical entry points; measures to leverage progress across the SDGs; localizing the SDGs; partnerships for sustainable development; and the 2020-2030 vision. The Summit will highlight SDG “acceleration actions” announced in the course of the Summit, and also feature the launch of the 2019 Global Sustainable Development Report. World leaders will adopt a political declaration during the opening segment of the Summit.

The High-level Dialogue on FfD, the first such dialogue since the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) in July 2015, seeks to accelerate progress in the implementation of the AAAA and financing the 2030 Agenda, through energizing growth and tackling challenges in the global economy, encouraging public and private investment to align with the 2030 Agenda, and promoting new and innovative initiatives that target gaps in financing sustainable development. Four interactive dialogues will take place, on: putting public resources to work for more equal, sustainable societies, including by combatting illicit financial flows; financing the SDGs and climate action against rising debt burdens; moving the money to fill the climate action and SDG financing gap; and announcements and new initiatives. An official summary of the Dialogue will list major initiatives and recommendations emerging from the discussion.

The High-level Midterm Review of the SAMOA Pathway will discuss progress made in addressing the priorities of small island developing states (SIDS) through the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway. The review will be informed by regional preparatory meetings of SIDS as well as an interregional meeting that took place in 2018. Negotiations on the outcome document of the midterm review are under way among UN Member States.