Ensuring the health of the environment is essential to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In particular, taking urgent action to curb global average temperature rise to well below 2C will prove critical to sustaining climate and ecological systems that would safeguard the wellbeing of our present and future generations. Innovative solutions in the form of, for example, new technologies and effective fiscal policies are necessary to combat further environmental deterioration, decrease its risk to vulnerable populations and address pressing challenges associated with unsustainable consumption and production patterns. Governments and stakeholders need to effectively harness innovation, including in data collection and policymaking, and work toward transformative governance models supported by environmental rule of law that would ensure equity and inclusiveness, while adequately addressing emerging challenges.