The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), located in Grenoble, France, in an international innovation campus, is the world-leading source of synchrotron X-rays. Operating 47 beamlines with state-of-the-art instrumentation, the ESRF welcomes ~10,000 scientists each year from all over the world, who study materials and living matter at the atomic and nanometric scales for cutting-edge research on sustainability and health. In fact, fundamental and applied research at the ESRF contributes to addressing the complex global challenges that our society faces, such as health issues, climate change, energy and environmental concerns. It also contributes to the development of new technologies for industry, circular economy, digital world, and to the preservation of humanity’s cultural heritage. It is a truly European values-based facility, lighting the way to a sustainable and peaceful future within the ERA. The ESRF initiated an Upgrade Programme (UP) in 2009, and completed the first phase in 2015 with 19 new beamlines, enabling major performance gains for X-ray microscopy and imaging experiments, and developing a new revolutionary storage ring lattice design concept. This concept powered the second phase – completed in 2023, which saw the construction of a new storage ring – the ESRF Extremely Brilliant Source (EBS) – operational since 2020, and new beamlines. The UP and the EBS bring two orders of magnitude increase in source brilliance, and X-ray instruments performance increased 100 to 10,000 times with respect to previous capabilities. ESRF-EBS is the world’s first fourth-generation high-energy synchrotron, and represents a disruptive step for X-ray science in the 3D+ and time-resolved exploration of condensed and living matter. The ESRF’s user community requested the ESRF UP and the EBS to address compelling science goals, in line with UNESCO's objectives for sustainable development and with the global challenges identified by the EU's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, which are fully grounded on the human society, planet earth sustainability and health challenges. They are: (1) Health innovation, overcoming diseases and pandemics, (2) Materials for tomorrow's innovative and sustainable industry, (3) Clean energy transition, sustainable energy storage and clean hydrogen technologies, (4) Planetary research and geoscience, (5) Environmental and climate challenges, (6) Bio-based economy and food security, and (7) Humanity and world cultural heritage. Thanks to the ESRF UP and EBS, the ESRF’s user community continues growing and diversifying, even after 30 years of operation. To date, the ESRF has served ~ 160,000 users from across 60 countries since it started operation in 1994. Over 300 clients use the ESRF for proprietary studies, and some 30% of the ESRF public research involves industry partners, as synchrotron radiation is increasingly used as a response to industrial challenges.