About

Stephan Contius is Special Advisor on SDGs at Foundations 20 on an honorary basis since October 2022. He was Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Head of the Division for UN and Developing Countries and Emerging Economies at the German Environment Ministry.There he was involved in the establishment of the SEED Initiative, which is promoting entrepreneurship for sustainable development, as well as of environment and climate change dialogues with Brazil, China, India, South Africa, and Thailand. He was German co-lead negotiator for the 2030 Agenda and German chief negotiator for the UN summits on sustainable development in Johannesburg (2002) and in Rio de Janeiro (2012). His assignments at the Ministry also included G7 cooperation and project financing. He was seconded to the United Nations Development Programme in New York in 1990. In 1992 he was co-lead negotiator of the EU in the final negotiations on the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. Mr. Contius studied law and political science at the universities of Berlin and Aix-en-Provence, and was recipient of scholarships of the German National Academic Foundation.