At the Hamburg Sustainability Conference (HSC) 2025, Ghanaian moderator Kenneth Awotwe Darko steered a critical conversation on forest finance, ensuring Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IP&LCs) took center stage in the fight against deforestation.
The session, Protecting Forests, Protecting the Planet: Financing Solutions for Nature and Climate, became a rallying point for rights-based solutions, with Mr Darko’s incisive questions and strategic framing linking forest protection to broader climate and biodiversity goals ahead of COP30.
Around 1,600 participants from all across the world, including a notable number of high-level representatives from politics, international organizations, business, academia, and civil society, convened in Hamburg on June 2 and 3 to forge new alliances and accelerate progress toward the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
During the session on forest financing, Mr Darko, a journalist with JoyNews and Myjoyonline, opened the session by engaging Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN).
He communicated Germany’s willingness to engage effectively in ensuring that key considerations are implemented for designing effective forest finance mechanisms.
This, according to Mr Flasbarth, includes supporting holistic and integrated approaches to forest finance.
Kenneth advanced the conversation by underscoring forests’ dual role as biodiversity sanctuaries and carbon sinks, a theme echoed by panelists from Brazil’s Articulation of Indigenous Peoples (APIB), the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI), and Greenpeace.
“Forests, home to millions of people, two-thirds of the world’s biodiversity and crucial carbon sinks, are vital for achieving climate and nature protection goals. With deforestation contributing 15% of global emissions, we need to explore opportunities for COP30 and beyond to enhance financing mechanisms and accelerate action to end deforestation and forest degradation by 2030,” Mr Darko remarked on June 3, setting the tone for a discussion that prioritised equity alongside environmental urgency.
He posed a pivotal question to Dinamam Tuxá, an Indigenous leader from Brazil: “How urgent is it to redesign forest finance to guarantee direct access for IP&LCs on the ground?”
Tuxá’s response laid bare systemic gaps. According to him, without our inclusion, even the best-intentioned funds fail.
For him, it is unconscionable that the Amazon territories safeguard 80% of the world’s biodiversity yet less than 1% of climate finance reaches them directly.
In a moving speech, Deputy General Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), Alcebias Mota Constantino expressed his frustration about the plethora of commitments with no real action to back them.
For him, while these delays persist in terms of mechanisms that could potentially be used currently to ensure better accessibility to support IP and community-led solutions on the ground, their conditions worsen.
Mr Darko’s handling of the panel uncovered stark realities and solutions. On finance as justice, Leslie Quarzazi of CAFI highlighted how Central Africa’s deforestation crisis demands “policy coherence and community-level funding,” a point Mr Darko expanded by linking to Ghana’s own efforts towards conserving forest reserves amid exploitation, and SCALED initiative’s potential to bridge investment gaps.
Regarding COP30 as a turning point, Greenpeace Brazil’s Carolina Pasquali, prompted by Mr Darko, stressed that COP30 must move beyond pledges to enforceable mechanisms, particularly for high-integrity forests.
On the point of holistic frameworks and long-term sustainability, Leslie Quarzazi explained how finance models could balance equity and effectiveness.
The Road to COP30 and beyond
In closing, Mr Darko synthesized the panel’s consensus: “Credible solutions require respecting the people who live with the forests.” His summary echoed the session’s key messages:
- Direct Access: Finance mechanisms must bypass bureaucracy to reach IP&LCs.
- Integration: Climate and biodiversity agendas are inseparable in forest policy.
- Accountability: COP30 must deliver tangible commitments, not just dialogue.
As global leaders prepare for COP30 in the Amazon, his call and that of his panelists to listen to the guardians of these ecosystems offers a blueprint for turning rhetoric into reality.
In the end, the Hamburg Sustainability Conference (HSC) successfully concluded its second edition, reinforcing its position as a vital global platform for advancing sustainable development.
HSC 2025 marked the launch of important initiatives and the achievement of new consensus, such as the agreement on the Hamburg Declaration on Responsible AI for the SDGs. HSC 2025 built on the momentum created by its first edition in October 2024 despite even more challenging conditions.
As outlined in the HSC 2025 Conference Paper, this year’s conference took place in a significantly altered international context. Geopolitical tensions have heightened, fragmentation has deepened, and the space for effective multilateral engagement appears increasingly constrained. In this regard, the mission of the HSC proves more vital than ever.
In this sense, HSC 2025 came at the right time and sent a clear and important signal: even in these times of uncertainty, there is strong support for collective, cross-cutting action—and it remains possible to forge new alliances and make tangible progress.
The four HSC initiators highlighted the pressing need to forge new alliances and launch cross sector initiatives to advance a sustainable future, especially in these challenging times.
The following list provides an overview of some key initiatives launched or advanced during HSC 2025.
- Hamburg Declaration on Responsible AI for the SDGs On Monday, June 2, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) endorsed the Hamburg Declaration on Responsible AI for the Sustainable Development Goals, together with over 40 governments, private sector organizations, civil society, and leading research institutions. The landmark initiative—the first global declaration focused specifically on AI in international development— outlines shared principles and commitments to promote the equitable, inclusive, and sustainable development and deployment of artificial intelligence worldwide, with particular emphasis on empowering developing countries. Building on a set of principles presented at HSC 2024, the Declaration is the result of a year-long global consultation involving policymakers, academia, private sector, and civil society.
- SCALED: Unlocking Private Investment for Sustainable Development On Monday, June 2, the members of the Hamburg Sustainability Platform (HSP) signed a joint declaration of intent, reaffirming their commitment to removing barriers to large-scale sustainable investment. Rebranded as “SCALED—Scaling Capital for Sustainable Development,” the initiative brings together public and private institutions to enhance coordination. By the end of 2025, SCALED plans to launch a dedicated company to mobilize private capital more efficiently for projects such as solar farms or entrepreneurship support. As a service provider, the company will create standardized investment vehicles, connect aligned investors, and work with asset managers to implement investments. It aims to help close financing gaps in developing countries and could unlock several billion USD in private capital over the coming years.
- Launch of the Global Alliance against Inequality On Tuesday, June 3, the Global Alliance against Inequality, was officially launched. The coalition unites governments and partners in a bold effort to tackle the systemic roots of inequality undermining social cohesion and democratic governance worldwide. Germany and Sierra Leone, alongside the Pathfinders Initiative, signed the declaration of intent committing to evidence based policies that address economic and social disparities. The Alliance emphasizes cross regional collaboration, dialogue, and policy innovation to rebuild trust in public institutions and foster peaceful, just societies.
The other notable agreements, signings, and announcements during HSC 2025 are the following: The Memorandum of Understanding between the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and Euler Hermes to strengthen support for German exports and investments in developing and emerging countries within the framework of sustainable development; the new Biodiversity Fund of the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF), with an initial capital of €500,000 aimed at supporting biodiversity conservation projects particularly within global textile supply chains;
The addition of one new signatory to the Hamburg Declaration on Green Aviation, and two new signatories to the Hamburg Declaration on the Decarbonisation of Global Shipping—both initiated at HSC 2024; The Joint Statement of stakeholders across sectors on Enhancing Municipalities’ Access to Private Capital; and the presentation of the concept for the “Institute for Sustainability Arbitration” (ISA), which is envisioned as a specialized body dedicated to ensuring legal certainty in sustainability-related disputes through expert arbitration.
