In 2015, United Nations (UN) Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In that same year, at the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Parties to the UNFCCC adopted the Paris Agreement, addressing the need to fight climate change.

In 2020, the SDGs will have a comprehensive review and the Paris Agreement will come into force.

Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) is debating how it can lead in the sustainability transition and follow up on the SDGs by 2030. In January 2019, the EC launched a Reflection Paper Towards a Sustainable Europe by 2030 putting forward illustrative scenarios for the future to steer the discussion on how the EU can best contribute to the SDGs by 2030.  The implementation of sustainability objectives, in line with the 2030 Agenda, including the reinforcement of EU efforts to fight climate change, also features prominently in the EU new strategic agenda 2019-2024 adopted by EU leaders in June 2019.

The annual meeting of the High-level Political Forum – the UN platform for follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs – will be held on 9-18 July 2019. The COP-25 will take place from 2 to 13 December 2019 to stocktake the climate actions and strengthen the efforts towards the Paris Agreement targets by 2020.

Regions play a crucial role in achieving a sustainable European future. AER members have been working together to provide stronger leadership on the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs and the Paris Agreement. They have been sharing experiences in maximising the opportunities presented by the Goals and in embedding them in their regional planning.

Because a stronger engagement of regions is needed to match this ambition, AER members agreed to set up their efforts to meeting the global Goals and climate targets and set up a Task Force to convene an even stronger joint action towards the full implementation of this Agenda by 2030.

At a pivotal moment for the implementation of the SDGs and the Paris climate targets, the AER Task Force on SDGs offers a timely opportunity for AER members to secure the changes in policy and practice they seek by building a more effective influencing work on climate change and sustainable development processes.

If you/your region want(s) to be involved in the Task Force on SDGs, please contact us at: v.freitas@aer.eu.