Tag: Civil Society

SDG Watch members from all over Europe met in Brussels on the 4^th and 5^th November for the SDG Watch Europe Annual General Assembly and the Civil Society Forum for Sustainability. Over 70 CSOs with an interest in just transition, participation, social justice, and climate environmental sustainability were present to deliberate on the future of the European Green Deal and to discuss and strategize on the SDGs and Agenda 2030.

Civil society strategize for 2024-2029

The AGA took place back-to-back with the Civil Society Forum, organized by SDG Watch Europe, EEB and SOLIDAR in the framework of the REAL DEAL project, a Horizon 2020 project on deliberative democracy and the European Green Deal (EGD). The forum provides a space for CSOs from across Europe to come together and exchange views on topics related to the European Green Deal and the SDGs.

On day one, CSOs met at the Elzenhof for a packed event on strategic priorities for civil society engagement within the upcoming 2024-2029 EU mandate. The panel, moderated by Hanna Gunnarrson of WECF, opened with reflections on the recent UN Summit of the Future. Ingo Ritz, Director of Global Call to Action Against Poverty, noted that the Summit highlighted the increasing polarization between the Global North and South, especially around issues like debt and economic justice. Ingo raised concerns about the shrinking space for civil society in global governance processes, with civil society sidelined in major discussions. He pointed to the upcoming 2025 World Social Summit as a critical venue where civil society can push for stronger engagement.

The panel then heard from Patrizia Heidegger, Deputy Secretary General of the EEB, who noted the progress on environmental goals praised civil society’s mobilization efforts, noting significant legislative wins under the EGD, including stricter regulations on resource use and waste, more robust climate targets, and new ecodesign standards. Despite these advances, major obstacles remain, including inadequate fiscal commitments to support decarbonization and dematerialization. From the social justice perspective, Mikael Leyei, SOLIDAR’s Secretary General, highlighted troubling trends in social justice, with poverty rates on the rise and social indicators declining. Mikael noted that a coherent policy framework for a just transition is essential and called for better integration of social and environmental justice goals. Mikael also noted the growing influence of nationalist and far-right movements within EU member states. He urged civil society to mobilize nationally and within the EU, building broad alliances to counter anti-democratic trends and ensure that social and environmental justice remain priorities in the next EU mandate. Overall the panel set the scene as to how the EU should move forward on SDG implementation, emphasising economic system change, social justice, a just transition and the need for greater adherence to the principle of policy coherence for sustainable development in all EU actions and policy processes.

Across the two-day Forum, nine thematic civil society workshops were held and SDG Watch Europe’s members heard from a variety of inspiring speakers from the academic and civil society spheres, as well as collaborating to develop policy recommendations for the incoming European Commission and EU Parliament. Alongside the workshops on emerging themes for civil society, a closing dialogue with civil society organisations was held to reflect on their ideas at the end of the two days of discussions.

AGA Key updates

During the Annual General Assembly on the 4 November, elections to the Steering Group were held. SDG Watch Europe would like to thank the outgoing members of the Steering Group for all the incredible work they have done throughout their mandate. Members applauded Laura de Bonfils (Social Platform), Sarah Franklyn (Independent), Stéphanie Ghislain (Eurogroup for Animals) and Jacob Bjelskov Jørgensen (Nyt Europa), who will all be stepping down from the SDG Watch Europe Steering Group after completing their terms.

New Members of the SDG Watch Europe Steering Group

SDG Watch Europe hereby congratulates and welcomes three new steering group members who were unanimously elected to the Steering Group at the AGA; Katja Reuter of Social Platform, Justina Kaluinaite of the Lithuanian NGDO Platform and Valeria Fantini of the European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA). In addition, SDG Watch Europe warmly welcomes back Robert Krizanic (Povod) and Manuela Gervasi (EEB), who were re-elected to the Steering Group for one additional term.

SDG Watch Europe also set priority focus areas for 2025 that will be crucial to work on in order to advance its mission of SDG implementation. SDG Watch Europe will continue to focus on the ambitious implementation of the SDGs by the EU institutions in the 2024-2029 mandate. In addition, the network will address new narratives for sustainable development, moving beyond competitiveness, deregulation and disinformation, towards a global wellbeing economy. Another key priority area for 2025 is the financing for the SDGs, including the Upcoming Multiannual financial framework (MFF) negotiations and the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development. Lastly, members highlighted the importance of the EU’s international development cooperation and the Global Gateway Strategy, moving towards global justice.

SDG Watch Europe, a civil society alliance of more than 90 EU NGOs established to ensure the full implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the EU and its Member States, has criticised today’s publication of the European Commission’s European Voluntary Review.

Serving as the first ever Europe-wide Voluntary National Review of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the European Voluntary Review (EU VR) has the potential to spark a bold political reset of the SDG Agenda. However, the report published this week by the European Commission does not go far enough in its content or process, with civil society organisations and citizens left out in the cold as the report was drafted. 

As many independent assessments show, implementation of the SDGs has been lagging behind, and in key areas such as reducing poverty, tackling inequalities, and addressing the triple crises of climate, biodiversity and pollution, progress is going backwards. The Voluntary Review, which merely assesses what the EU has done so far and promotes its flagship policies, lacks any real vision for structural changes, nor does it provide an action plan at EU level to address gaps and challenges identified by civil society organisations on SDG implementation. 

The EU VR process should be an honest and forward-looking stock taking, as well as a steppingstone to an overarching strategy on the SDGs, complete with a fully financed action plan. As of now, it is not clear how Europe intends to make structural changes in areas where the data shows regression, and particularly where we see negative external impacts of Europe’s policies on the rest of the world.

Jeffrey Moxom, SDG Watch Europe Coordinator.

A key demand of civil society organisations was that the European Voluntary Review be an inclusive best practice in participatory governance which promotes and secures the genuine involvement of citizens and civil society, as many EU Member States had successfully done when conducting their own Voluntary Reviews. Despite a commendable effort from the European Economic and Social Committee to lead a stakeholder consultation, the EU did not succeed in properly consulting citizens during the first ever European wide review of the SDGs. Nor did it reach out to NGOs beyond Europe to hear how the EU’s policies are affecting them. 

The lack of consultation with civil society in the preparation of the EU Voluntary Review is deeply disappointing. Article 11 TEU places an obligation on EU institutions to consult with CSOs to ensure open, participatory, and inclusive multi-stakeholder approaches, and the SDG agenda itself contains strong commitments to involving civil society and other key stakeholders in its implementation.

There is a clear need to shift from a tick box exercise to the creation of real opportunities for citizens’ and civil society participation to engage the whole of society for sustainable development and for the SDGs.

Manuela Gervasi, Senior Policy Officer for Public Participation and Sustainable Development at EEB and SDG Watch Europe Steering Group Member. 

As Europe continues to preach the values of participation, democracy, and openness to other countries around the world, Europe now needs to show real leadership on SDGs on the world stage, as governments and civil society ramp up preparations for the High-Level Political Forum in July in New York and the SDG Summit taking place in September. With many countries engulfed by stubborn inflationary economic crises and global shocks that risk erasing vital SDG progress, the EU will need to lead in reviving a spirit of multilateral cooperation and fostering the political will required to achieve the sustainability commitments made in 2015. In such a context, it is only logical that the EU takes further measures to reverse the negative trends highlighted in the EU Voluntary Review. 

“With only seven years left to achieve the SDGs, the role of the incoming European Commission in 2024 will be instrumental in the success of Agenda 2030. The EU VR provides a first step, but it should be followed by the introduction of an overarching strategy on SDGs that ensures meaningful civil society participation.”

Julie Rosenkilde, Director of Nyt Europa and SDG Watch Europe Steering Group member. 

SDG Watch members highlighted that the ongoing deficiencies in implementing the SDGs are structural in nature, and the EU must assume a leadership role in tackling root causes and transforming the current economic system. Only by doing so can genuine progress towards the SDGs be achieved. This will require courageous decision-making from policymakers, as well as collaboration and cooperation from all stakeholders. Daniele Taurino of the European Youth Forum an SDG Watch Europe member, commented:

It’s becoming increasingly clear that our current economic model, which prioritises growth and profit, is unsustainable and detrimental to both the planet and the people. The only way to achieve the SDGs is by pursuing systemic and coherent change towards a post-growth future that values biocapacity, equality, and the well-being of both people and the planet while creating a thriving and peaceful future that operates within the limits of our planet’s resources.

The European Voluntary Review can be accessed here.