Established in 2015, the United Nations' Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development includes 17 goals to be achieved by 2030: two-thirds of them directly involve local and regional authorities. At the halfway point in this journey, the Chamber of Regions has taken stock of progress at regional level, but also the limits of the actions that will enable them to be achieved.

Moderated by Chamber President Tunç Soyer (SOC/G/PD), the round table devoted to "Regional experiences and lessons learned to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" was opened at the Chamber's session on 25 October by Gunn Marit Helgesen, president of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR). The round-table discussion gave the floor to members of the Congress and its partners, all of whom are strongly committed to the success of these objectives.

Johannes Sundelin, vice-president for sustainable development at the Assembly of European Regions (AER), showed how his region of Norboten, Sweden, organizes its projects in line with the SDGs, while adapting them to regional needs, after consulting the population. For example, while coal mines are now giving way to greener energies, their residual heat is now used to heat people's homes. The Eurometropole of Strasbourg (France), has placed the SDGs at the heart of its programs, while assessing their feasibility. "We identified 88 areas for action in relation to the SDGs, and were able to make progress on three-quarters of them.", explains Christian Brassac, deputy mayor and vice-president of the Eurometropole, with the remaining quarter proving too complex to achieve. He continues, "In many cases, one action can simultaneously meet several of the SDGs, as in the case of greening school grounds: removing asphalt in favor of grass not only combats heat islands in the city, but also rebalances the use of space between girls and boys."

For Kelmend Zajazi, Executive Director of the NALAS network (associations of local authorities in South-East Europe), achieving the SDGs requires a strong involvement of young people and the promotion of multi-level governance. The young Slovenian delegate, Anja Kosir, supports this view, but deplores the fact that "intergenerational cooperation" is not sufficiently encouraged in the implementation of these sometimes too abstract SDGs.

Young people hold the key to the success of the SDGs

However, it is young people who will be the driving force behind the implementation of the SDGs, insisted Sigrun Myrvang, a young Norwegian observer delegate representing the AER Youth Regional Network, for whom "adults impose too many things, and see the SDGs as challenges, whereas young people see them as opportunities". In addition, notes Croatian youth delegate Téa Babic, SDG number 5 advocates real gender equality, a theme that should be better taken into account by local and regional authorities, including in the face of domestic violence. Eline Thor Eliassen, the young Danish delegate, would like to see young Europeans working more with young people from the rest of the world to make the SDGs a reality, collaborating with them across borders. Joao Manuel Esteves, a Portuguese mayor and member of CEMR, also affirms his desire to cooperate better with young people, while warning against "age segregation" in work programs.

Elected representatives still need to know more about the SDGs

In the field, many regional leaders are already integrating the principles of the SDGs into their day-to-day work: "They are present in all our regional projects", assures Reinhart Rohr (R, Austria, SOC/V/DP), President of the Carinthian Regional Parliament. Johannes Sundelin admits that we still need to "raise awareness" of the SDGs, and Christian Brassac regrets that "far too many elected representatives, particularly in France, still don't know what the SDGs are all about". Kelmend Zajazi admits: "There is indeed a lot of information work to be done, and we don't always have the necessary resources to implement them, even if, conversely, our programs often meet their objectives without knowing that they are part of the SDGs".

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45th Session
Agenda – Web file – Multimedia (Live webcasts, interviews, videos and photo)

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