2026 UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event
Format: Hybrid
Registration:
- Register by 12 July for in-person attendance (a light lunch will be provided)
- Register for in-person participation
- Register to attend online (Zoom)
Partners: Co-organised by Italy, Romania, and Spain
Fragmented action is becoming too costly. With fewer than four years remaining to 2030, governments face growing pressure to accelerate progress on the 2030 Agenda while navigating tighter fiscal space, environmental risks, technological change and geopolitical uncertainty. The areas under in-depth review at the 2026 High-Level Political Forum – water, energy, industry and infrastructure, cities and partnerships – are central to economic transformation, service delivery, resilience and international co-operation. They are also deeply interconnected.
Water security, energy systems, industrial development, infrastructure investment and urbanisation are linked through shared resources, value chains, investment choices and governance arrangements. Decisions in one area can open opportunities in another, but can also create trade-offs, unintended consequences and spillovers across sectors, territories and borders.
Yet policies in these areas are often designed, financed and implemented in silos. Energy transitions may not be fully aligned with water availability and climate risks; urban expansion can be disconnected from transport and infrastructure planning; and industrial transformation strategies may not be linked to skills, innovation and financing frameworks. These gaps can raise costs, weaken resilience, create misaligned incentives and reduce the overall effectiveness of public action.
This side event will explore how policy coherence for sustainable development can help governments bridge these gaps. It will focus on practical ways to anticipate policy interactions, make trade-offs more visible and governable, align planning and budgeting, strengthen co-ordination across levels of government, and support more integrated solutions across water, energy, industry, infrastructure and cities.
The event will also serve as the official launch of the OECD report: Bridging the Gaps for Sustainable Development: Coherent Policies for Water, Energy, Industry and Cities
Drawing on country and regional experiences, the discussion will examine how policy coherence can be strengthened as a practical government capability - helping move from fragmented action to more integrated, resilient and cost-effective approaches. It will also identify priorities for a forward-looking Policy Coherence Agenda for Transformative Action, including stronger institutions, better use of data and evidence, improved management of spillovers, and more effective partnerships for implementation.
The side event will pursue three objectives:
Build a shared understanding of interconnected policy challenges. Discuss the interlinkages, trade-offs and spillovers shaping progress across water, energy, industry, infrastructure and cities.
Show how policy coherence can unlock integrated solutions. Draw on country and regional experiences to illustrate how stronger policy coherence can help governments overcome fragmentation and deliver more effective, resilient and cost-efficient outcomes.
Advance Policy Coherence Agenda for Transformative Action. Identify priority governance actions, capabilities and partnerships needed to strengthen policy coherence toward 2030 and beyond, and inform HLPF follow-up, peer learning and international co-operation.