2023 will be the year of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially in the EU with the first ever EU Voluntary Review and 9 Member states tabling Voluntary National Reviews. The EU Review will be fundamental to show whether the EU walks the talk and can encourage other UN countries to get back on track to implement the SDGs by 2030. Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) by EU municipalities will also have a key role in showing the full extent of the EU mobilisation on SDGs.
The event co-organised be the European Committee of the Regions and the Ministry for Environment, Conservation and Transport of North Rhine Westphalia will shed light on how all levels of government can work together to implement SDGs with the presentation of the German project: “Communities in one world” of the Service Agency of Communities in one World, a project on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and first implemented in North Rhine Westphalia to help cities localize SDGs and make VLRs.
Mayor of Bonn, Katja Dorner, and Mayor of Gent, Mathias De Clercq, will also present their Voluntary Local Reviews. These two testimonials will be followed by an EU Panel debate with the European Commission Secretariat General, representatives of the local level and academia on what to expect from the EU Voluntary Review and how to build bridges between the EU VR and VLRs.
Programme
12.40 Registration and light lunch
13:30 Official Welcome
Videomessage from Parasto NOSRATI, Chair of the Council Working Party on the Agenda 2030, Swedish Presidency
Markku MARKKULA, President of the Helsinki Region, Finland, Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions
Viktor HAASE, State Secretary, Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of North Rhine-Westphalia
13:45 Presentation of the SDGs project "Communities in One World"
Daphne GROSS-JANSEN, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany
13:50 Voluntary Local Reviews: Two testimonials
Katja DÖRNER, Mayor of Bonn (connected online)
Mathias DE CLERCQ, Mayor of Gent (connected online)
14:15 Panel Discussion: What to expect from the EU Voluntary Review?
Moderator: Stefano MARTA, SDGs project coordinator, OECD
Dr. Asa PERSSON, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Member of the Independent Group of Scientist (IGS) compiling the 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report (connected online)
Laia PINÓS MATARO, Deputy Head of Unit, Secretariat General, European Commission
Felipe ARAUJO, Vice-Mayor of Porto
Jochen KRAL, Head of Department for Environment and Mobility, Düsseldorf
15.00
Concluding remarks:
Viktor HAASE, State Secretary, Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of North Rhine-Westphalia
The registration for in-person participation has closed.
You can find the recording of the session here: