Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions on progress in the implementation of SDGs
Date: 2023-02-08
Institutions: Commission for Economic Policy, European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: EU environmental policy, EU growth strategy, climate change, climate change policy, economic and social cohesion, economic recovery, green economy, international cooperation, regional development, sustainable development








C_2023157EN.01000601.xml










3.5.2023   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 157/6






Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions on progress in the implementation of SDGs
(2023/C 157/02)












Rapporteur:


Ricardo RIO (PT/EPP), Mayor of Braga








THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS (CoR),

1.   

underlines the commitment of regions and cities to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a universal concept to achieve a fairer and more just, inclusive, sustainable and resilient world, and their importance for a sustainable European recovery and long-term sustainable growth;



2.   

highlights the active role it plays at European level in the SDGs. The adoption of the CoR Opinion on Delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 last year was an important step, aligned with the Council Conclusions adopted in June 2021, and must be followed with further actions;



3.   

stresses that the 2030 Agenda is approaching the halfway point of its implementation phase, and underlines its belief in the usefulness of the SDGs, specifically for promoting policy coherence and inclusiveness at all levels of governance;



4.   

finds it regrettable that the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, the energy crisis in Europe and other recent trends have contributed to a setback in progress towards achieving the SDGs, stresses its concern about the slowing pace of climate action and the increasing risk of poverty, especially among vulnerable groups, people with a migrant background and refugees; reiterates, however, its support for maintaining focus on the SDGs at EU, national, regional and local level, in line with their respective levels of competence;



5.   

considers, indeed, that all efforts and initiatives to resolve crises should also be seen as an opportunity to help implement the SDGs and give the process fresh impetus;



6.   

affirms that the SDGs are potentially the only holistic blueprint for the future, which could balance out the multiplication of frameworks at all levels — Paris Agreement, National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the Convention of Biological Diversity, the EU Green Deal, the new Urban Agenda, etc.; stresses, furthermore, the holistic nature and universality of the SDGs, encompassing science, the economy, politics, civil society and all citizens at every level of governance;



7.   

calls for stronger EU engagement and for an overall strategy for implementation of the SDGs; draws attention to the role and resources of local and regional authorities (LRAs) and to the unfortunate absence of references to the SDGs and to the territorial dimension in the NRRPs;



8.   

highlights that an increasing number of cities and regions in Europe are using SDGs to support their overall strategy for growth/recovery, and that this territorial dimension must be included in the EU's contribution to the UN SDG Summit in September 2023; believes that new strategies to implement the SDGs should be based on a bottom-up approach, as local and regional levels can adopt a more inclusive stance, not least with regard to the involvement of the various stakeholders on the ground;



9.   

stresses the need to improve coordination of the SDG Summit with other relevant processes, such as Our Common Agenda, the Transforming Education Summit, the Summit of the Future, the mid-term review of the Sendai Framework, and the High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development also planned for September 2023;



10.   

considers it advisable for LRAs to draft Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs)/Voluntary Subnational Reviews (VSRs) that feed into the Voluntary National Reviews: there is a need for a true multilevel governance coordination approach, capacity building and sharing of best practices, as is already in the case with the URBACT project — Global Goals for Cities and where the Reference Framework for Sustainable Cities is applied;



11.   

points out that there is an opportunity to be seized to engage in a stronger EU inter-institutional dialogue, well in advance of the Summit, to advocate for a renewed interest in the SDGs within the EU, integrating them more effectively into the European Semester exercise and the RRF, and working on issues of inclusiveness, multi-level governance, targets and policy coherence; therefore calls on other EU institutions to engage with the CoR in this regard and, in this context, welcomes the creation of the SDG Alliance, a cross-parliamentary, informal group within the European Parliament;



12.   

welcomes the European Commission’s commitment to the SDGs as the guiding line and shared compass for all its actions, including via its 2023 Work Programme and the drafting of the first EU Voluntary Review to report to the United Nations this year;



13.   

congratulates the European Commission on its work to integrate the SDGs within the European Semester and to mainstream them in Better Regulation tools;



14.   

notes however that these are ongoing processes and calls for further efforts, as well as greater visibility for the SDGs in all EU tools, including in the implementation of the RRF;



15.   

expresses its deeply held concern about the lack of integration of the SDGs in the NRRPs. The majority of Member States merely implicitly mention the SDGs. Very few Member States explicitly link NRRP components to the SDGs, as revealed by a CoR study (1). Furthermore, the overall level of integration of the SDGs in NRRPs is rather low, with the highest score (still below 50 %) reached in economic SDGs (2);



16.   

points out that SDGs should be mainstreamed in European Semester documents, and calls for leadership at the highest level in the European Commission and Council to rationalise and simplify a renewed European Semester, recognise the role of local and regional authorities in the Semester and to focus on ‘competitive sustainability’;



17.   

recommends giving more visibility to the SDGs within the Annual Sustainable Growth Survey and explicitly quoting the SDGs within the recitals of the Country Specific Recommendations, making it clear that the recommendations aim to implement the SDGs;



18.   

repeats its call for the swift adoption of a European Code of Conduct to involve LRAs in European Semester governance, and stresses that the European Commission should lead by example by creating a structured dialogue with stakeholders on the European Semester, especially in view of the gap left by the non-renewal of the EU high-level multi-stakeholders platform on the SDGs;



Local and regional contribution









19.


reaffirms that implementation of the Green Deal can only be a success if it is carried out within the framework of the SDGs, which requires bridges between SDG localisation and Local Green Deals; in this light, emphasises the important contribution made by the CoR's own Green Deal Going Local Working Group in sharing best practices in particular;












20.


notes that available data shows that, since the SDGs were adopted by the UN in 2015, LRAs have been engaged to a varying degree in implementing them. The latest CoR-OECD survey on SDGs as a Framework for COVID-19 Recovery in Cities and Regions (3) confirms this engagement at a time when some countries are re-evaluating their engagement, setting recovery in opposition to the SDGs. On the contrary, LRAs consider SDGs as an ideal framework for long-term recovery from the pandemic;












21.


stresses that multi-level governance is one of the SDGs’ core values and highlights the key role of regions and cities, with the OECD estimating that 65 % of the targets under the SDGs cannot be reached without the coordination or involvement of local and regional authorities;












22.


values the key contribution made by local and regional authorities to implementing the SDGs, and calls on other EU institutions to recognise this with a view to strengthening the intra-EU coordination, including at a decentralised level amongst regions and cities. According to an OECD report based on a survey carried out jointly with the CoR, 40 % of the responding 145 local and regional authorities were already using the SDGs before the pandemic and have started to use them to shape the recovery phase. Another 44 % of them have not yet started to use the SDGs in the recovery but are planning to do so in the future. 68 % of responding regions and cities use the SDGs to shape new plans, policies and strategies or to adapt existing ones to the 2030 Agenda (4);












23.


praises the work of associations of LRAs at national and European level in supporting regions and cities in localising the SDGs, such as CEMR and Platforma with its publications, manuals and guides, as well as numerous reports, training courses, tools and workshops on SDG localisation, Eurocities with its Working Group on SDGs and Regions4, and its community of practice on SDGs;












24.


welcomes the work of the EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) to support cities in reporting on SDGs through their own Voluntary Local Reviews, as well as the new project REGIONS2030, supported by the European Parliament (5);












25.


strongly supports the key contributions constantly being made by the OECD, via its pilot project and its toolkit for a territorial approach to SDGs, policy dialogue roundtables, surveys and reports with the support of the CoR, to help regions and cities implement the SDGs;












26.


takes the view that the efforts of UN institutions such as UNECE, UN Habitat and UN DESA to promote and support SDG localisation throughout the world are very important and should be better aligned with EU policies and initiatives;












27.


argues that these efforts are bearing fruit and should be reflected in more consistent and structured EU implementation of the SDGs, potentially with an overall strategy and a stakeholders’ platform to co-design and encourage actions by all stakeholders;












28.


makes itself available to coordinate the establishment of an EU platform for dialogue and exchange to enable cities and regions to learn from each other and benefit from additional capacity-building and peer-learning activities in the EU and beyond, between organisations and initiatives and also external networks;





Monitoring, reporting and better policy alignment









29.


welcomes the integration of Eurostat’s annual SDG monitoring report in the European Semester Spring Package as well as in the EU VR;












30.


is concerned that the monitoring report is not based on measurable, time-bound targets and therefore cannot truly monitor the implementation of the SDGs in the EU. A strategy and action plan would have made it possible to set targets and measure progress. As an alternative, regular EU VRs could help assess progress towards relevant targets where appropriate and in line with the different levels of legal competences, and identify gaps;












31.


stresses the need for economic/social impact analysis tools to be adopted and used routinely by both central and local/regional public administrations, also with a view to facilitating communication with stakeholders and citizens;












32.


is further concerned by the fact that the results of this report are being used to assess the implementation of the SDGs in each Member States in the Country Reports. Given the aforementioned limitations, scores are based on the EU average and are often misleading. It is therefore impossible to measure the extent of progress towards the SDGs when comparing results to the EU average;












33.


is also concerned that the indicators used to assess SDGs are all national level. For medium-sized and large countries, these assessments do not reflect reality on the ground, as there are large disparities within countries. While Eurostat’s commitment to high-quality data is to be praised, and it is largely dependent on the data made available by national statistics institutes, it is of the utmost importance for Eurostat’s annual SDG monitoring report to contain NUTS-2-level data as well as illustrative good practices at regional and local level and to highlight where there is still room for improvement;












34.


stresses that regional and local data are also a condition for evidence-based policies. Less than half of LRAs use indicators and measurement systems to track progress towards the SDGs. Local and regional authorities need support from higher levels of government to monitor SDGs. The OECD localised indicator framework for measuring the distance to achieving the SDGs in cities and regions could be a starting point for LRAs to use a local SDG indicator framework (6);












35.


stresses that the CoR, local and regional authorities and their associations are important collectors of data and can make a practical contribution to enriching the EU SDG monitoring report;












36.


welcomes the work of the JRC to identify suitable indicators to monitor SDGs at regional level, and calls for the rapid integration of this work in the EU SDG monitoring report;












37.


encourages the EU and all Member States to support this trend, especially those who will present a VNR this year;












38.


urges the European Commission and the Council Working Party on the 2030 Agenda to make sure these efforts are reflected in the EU VR and relevant VNRs, helping to better align policies at all levels and demonstrate the full extent of the European Union’s effort (at large) on SDGs. There is significant potential for improvement, given that half of cities and regions report that they were not involved in the drafting of VNRs in the EU;












39.


welcomes the European Commission’s efforts to work with regions and cities, as well as civil society, on the EU VR, and calls for the CoR's contribution to be incorporated in the VR document, with adequate space for multi-level governance;












40.


calls for the EU VR to be officially presented at the UN, with representatives of all EU institutions, to reflect the multi-level governance approach to the SDGs;












41.


urges the Council leadership to ensure that the EU does not relax its efforts on SDGs;












42.


urges the future Spanish Presidency to organise a high-level debate on the boost needed at EU level to implement the SDGs on time. This debate should be in the General Affairs Council at ministerial level and send a clear signal to the European Commission on the importance of SDGs;





Challenges and ways forward









43.


highlights the need for better linkages between SDGs and NRRPs, as funding is the main obstacle for 47 % of cities and regions in the implementation of the SDGs (7) and there is still EUR 225 billion available for Member States from the RRF;












44.


also encourages all levels of government to mainstream the SDGs in their budget and financial tools to address the funding gap;












45.


stresses the importance of EU support to develop training and capacity-building activities, as capacity in terms of both skills and staff is a challenge for 44 % of cities and regions (8);












46.


calls on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop and implement sustainability strategies in their businesses, as only 24 % of them currently have specific plans to reduce their carbon footprints (9); stresses the need to support SMEs in this process and to step up the corresponding measures at European, national, regional and local level;












47.


calls for better and more structured coordination between levels of government with the EU leading by example, including through more inclusive governance of the European Semester and a structured dialogue with stakeholders on the SDGs;












48.


calls for more leadership from the EU institutions in communicating about the SDGs. Not all stakeholders are familiar with the framework, and prioritising the SDGs at EU and national level could help strengthen political commitment at all levels and further raise awareness about SDGs on the ground;












49.


recommends, based on OECD recommendations, using the SDGs to prioritise implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights and enhancing social and community services for socially disadvantaged groups, incentivise the decarbonisation of buildings; expand sustainable infrastructure for cyclists, pedestrians and electric vehicles, and enhance stakeholders’ participation in the localisation of SDGs for recovery;












50.


considers that, in order to complement the green taxonomy and help implement the Green Deal, the Commission should urgently put forward a proposal to establish a social taxonomy. Without a social taxonomy, investors and undertakings lack clear guidance as to which investments provide added value from a social point of view. This makes it difficult to finance socially motivated activities in healthcare, social housing and social services, among other areas;












51.


proposes that the EU institutions and Member States should support and finance the launch of training and education initiatives to promote capacity building in public entities and private organisations in the design and implementation of SDG reports and strategic plans;












52.


stresses that education is a fundamental right, irrespective of financial means, and further suggests to the levels of government responsible for education delivery that more sustainable development concepts could be introduced in educational curricula, from nursery to university level;












53.


proposes the launch of an EU inter-institutional communication campaign that clearly links the fulfilment of the SDGs with improvements to the quality of life of citizens in all territories;












54.


suggests creating an inter-continental platform for exchange of best practices in the development of VLRs or VSRs, between European cities and cities from other locations, promoting Europe as a strong partner on this topic; such a platform can count on the coordination of the CoR;












55.


calls for much more effective dissemination of information concerning financing opportunities that may be available from institutions like the European Investment Bank to support the implementation of SDG strategic plans at local and regional level;












56.


hereby launches a collective discussion on the importance of keeping sustainable development in Europe at the centre of all political actions even post-2030, stressing the opportunity to establish a true well-being economy, centred on people and the planet and working towards a sustainable EU in the long term;












57.


finally, calls on the EU institutions, bodies and agencies, as well as national, regional and local administrations, to consider how they themselves can become more sustainable; this applies in particular to the development of renewable energy, energy renovation of buildings and more sustainable canteens, as well as the promotion of climate-friendly transport and accommodation and the development of hybrid events and meetings in their office buildings, but also the fight against poverty and hunger; engagement to achieve gender equality and fight inequality, promote innovation and improve infrastructure, balance consumption, production and land use and to contribute to peace, justice and strong institutions in Europe and the world.





Brussels, 8 February 2023.


The President of the European Committee of the Regions

Vasco ALVES CORDEIRO




(1)  CoR (2022) Synergies between the Sustainable Development Goals and the National Recovery and Resilience Plans — Best practices from local and regional authorities, page 16.

(2)  CoR (2022) Synergies between the Sustainable Development Goals and the National Recovery and Resilience Plans — Best practices from local and regional authorities, page 17.

(3)  The latest survey results are in the OECD report: https://doi.org/10.1787/6d25b59b-en

(4)  The latest survey results are in the OECD report: https://doi.org/10.1787/6d25b59b-en

(5)  SDG localisation at various levels of governments has led to an increase in VLRs and VSRs: in the region of North-Rhine Westphalia alone 11 cities have produced a local sustainability report and Bonn and Düsseldorf have presented their own VLR at the UN. The largest cities in Finland (Espoo, Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Vantaa) have also drafted a VLR. Globally, there are 126 VLRs, one third of which are located in Europe.

(6)  OECD (2022) ‘The Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for COVID-19 recovery in cities and regions’, OECD Regional Development Papers, No 26, OECD Publishing, Paris.

(7)  OECD (2022) ‘The Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for COVID-19 recovery in cities and regions’, OECD Regional Development Papers, No 26, OECD Publishing, Paris.

(8)  OECD (2022) ‘The Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for COVID-19 recovery in cities and regions’, OECD Regional Development Papers, No 26, OECD Publishing, Paris.

(9)  European Commission, 2022: Eurobarometer: EU SMEs working towards sustainability:
https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/news/eurobarometer-eu-smes-working-towards-sustainability-2022-03-28_en