It’s been a long time coming: Over three years after the European Union’s endorsement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement, the European Commission has published its reflection paper ‘Towards a Sustainable EU by 2030.’ A chance for us to see what has been suggested – and what more needs to be done!
Three possible scenarios that should guide the European Union in operating a just environmental, social, economic and political transition towards sustainability by 2030 are at the core of the Commission’s Vice-Presidents Timmermans and Katainen’s reflection paper. Out of these scenarios, CONCORD strongly supports the first scenario: A vision of an overarching Sustainable Europe 2030 Strategy. This should therefore become the number one priority of the next Commission 2019-2024. Of course, this cannot be realised without integrating elements of scenario two which allow mainstreaming sustainable development through all policies.
2019, a year of European Parliament elections, provides a unique opportunity to make sure the EU institutional set-up is ready to take such ambitions forward: with the next Commission President in the lead and all other Commissioners made responsible for mainstreaming sustainable development within their areas of responsibility. In particular, CONCORD wants all future Commissioners to better take into account the impact of their policies on sustainable development in other parts of the world.
There is still a lot to be done, and we welcome the Commission’s recognition of this very fact. Let’s take a look at the paper’s promising elements, and CONCORD’s ideas how they could be pushed forward!
More on the EC’s Reflection Paper?
– CONCORD Press Release, January 30 2019: “A Big Leap Towards a Sustainable EU in 2030. Do we have the courage?”
– CONCORD Article, October 11 2018: “The EU Multi-stakeholder platform adopts common proposals towards Sustainable EU by 2030”