German city of Hamburg hosts major sustainable development conference

The German city of Hamburg is hosting a major conference on sustainable development this week, attracting around 1,600 participants from more than 100 countries.

The inaugural Hamburg Sustainability Conference opened on Monday, with the aim of convening experts to discuss the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz - a former mayor of the city - attended the opening of the conference, saying it would "make an important contribution to achieving the sustainability targets because it enables alliances between countries, and alliances between the economy, civil society and science."

The aim of the conference was "to strengthen the mutual trust within the global community, while showing that global challenges can be overcome with strong international partners."

A number of national leaders, primarily from the Global South, are in attendance, along with Ajay Bang, president of the World Bank.

Organizers hope the event could become the sustainability industry's counterpart to the Munich Security Conference, the world's largest gathering on foreign and security policy .

Themes to be discussed include climate-neutral shipping, sustainable battery production and climate finance.

The conference is being organized with the support of the German Development Ministry and the UN Environment Programme.

The SDGs are a broad set of targets agreed in 2015 to tackle global issues. The 17 categories include poverty, hunger, gender equality, climate change, sustainable production and economic growth.