Stephan Contius is Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda, Head of Division United Nations, Developing Countries and Emerging Economies, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), Germany. In October 2022, he was appointed as Special Advisor on SDGs to The Foundations Platform F20.

Contius served as German chief negotiator for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg 2002), the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio de Janeiro 2012) and as German co-lead negotiator for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. He was also involved in the establishment of environment and climate change dialogues with Brazil, China, India and several other countries. 

His previous assignments include legal affairs, G7 and G8 cooperation, prevention of air pollution, and project financing. In 1990 he was seconded to the United Nations Development Programme, New York. For the EU he participated in the final negotiations on the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992). 

Mr. Contius’ academic background is law and political science. He was recipient of scholarships of the German National Academic Foundation.