Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), talks to leading environment journalist Sonja van Renssen about his great expectations for the United Nations September Summit that will decide on the UN Sustainable Development Goals to be attained by 2030.

The way in which the environment will be integrated in the Sustainable Development Goals is “a significant evolution, a big step forward” according to Steiner. UNEP’s Executive Director stresses that this summit, which will be held from 25 to 27 September 2015 in New York, will be the occasion to agree on a critical set of rules: a universal set of sustainable development goals and the need for an integrated approach to development. He underlines that targets, indicators and monitoring tools will have to take into account each country’s capacity and resources availability. A great deal of work on a key part of the plan is currently being done, that is on the global partnership for financing for development in the next 15 years, states Steiner.