The report was presented to an international audience by the then Mayor of Bonn Ashok Sridharan on 23 October 2020 at the "Daring Cities" conference organized digitally by the international city network ICLEI.

"This publication shows how Bonn is making concrete progress towards a just and more sustainable society. At the same time, it also highlights the role that cities should play in tackling current global challenges," affirmed Marina Ponti, Director of the Bonn-based UN SDG Action Campaign. According to a study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), over 65% of all SDG targets cannot be achieved without the participation of cities. In 2018, the city of New York therefore launched an initiative for sustainability reporting by cities to the United Nations. Over 200 cities worldwide have now joined this movement, including the city of Bonn in 2020. A good 20 cities have already submitted reports on their local situation.

The structure of the Bonn Voluntary Local Report follows the system of the City of Bonn's municipal sustainability strategy. This was adopted in February 2019 with the aim of initially implementing the SDGs in these six fields of action

1. Mobility
2. Climate and energy
3. Natural resources
4. Work and the economy
5. Social participation and gender equality
6. Global responsibility and One World.

The Voluntary Local Report uses 46 indicators to illustrate developments in these areas and the extent to which they are relevant to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Bonn. The Voluntary Local Report thus links the City of Bonn's long-standing sustainability reporting with the goals that the city set itself with the sustainability strategy adopted in 2019 for the first time.

In the area of mobility, for example, a look at the modal split shows that more people in Bonn than the average for German cities (Germany-wide average) travel by eco-mobility, i.e. on foot, by bike or by public transport. However, the density of motor vehicles has remained almost unchanged since 2015. As the sector with the highest CO2 emissions at present, transport reduces the overall positive CO2 emissions balance in Bonn.

Thanks to successful municipal climate protection policies, per capita CO2 emissions were reduced by around 25 percent between 1990 and 2016. Significant reductions were achieved in private households and the commercial sector. Bonn is at the forefront of Germany when it comes to the share of renewable energies in the municipal utility's electricity mix. It was over 72% in 2018 and is being further expanded.

The city is well positioned in terms of natural resources and the environment. Around half of the entire city area is protected areas and the settlement and traffic area has increased less than the population, which continues to be well supplied with around 155 m2 of recreational space per capita. In contrast, the drop in drinking water consumption up to 2018 was reversed by the hot summers and presents the city with new challenges.

Bonn is also doing well economically: the employment rate has risen continuously since 2000 and was over 51% in 2018. The proportion of highly qualified workers is high, as is the proportion in knowledge-oriented services, which stand for innovative strength. The city sets a good example when it comes to inclusion. It employs more than twice as many people with disabilities as required by law.

In the school sector, the federal city has also been able to offer all interested pupils with special educational needs a place in a mainstream school. For children under the age of 3, it has provided a high number of childcare places (just over 40 percent) and 100 percent for all children over the age of 3.

Volunteering is very important in Bonn: there are almost twice as many clubs here as the national average.

The number of informal citizen participation procedures has been on the rise since 2015. In contrast, only just under a third of women are active in local politics. In addition, child, youth and old-age poverty as well as the number of people receiving benefits under SGBII has risen continuously in Bonn.

Bonn has long been involved in fair trade and was one of the first German municipalities to establish municipal project partnerships with cities in emerging and developing countries back in the late 1990s. This municipal commitment to global responsibility has been steadily expanded and spending on fair trade and project partnerships has increased continuously.