The Eurocities SDG Taskforce is formalised!
In March, the Eurocities SDG Taskforce was formalised. The city of Mannheim was elected as Chair, and Tallinn as Vice Chair. We look forward to continuing this collaboration with Eurocities and frontrunner cities in Europe to make sure the 2030 Agenda and SDGs stay high on the European policy agenda!
The European Sustainable Development Network gathered in Montenegro
On 27 March, Tallinn participated in the European Sustainable Development Network’s annual workshop in Montenegro, this year focussed on “Governance Transformations for More Effective SDG Implementation”. Krista Kampus, Head of EU and International Relations for the city of Tallinn, shared Tallinn’s journey towards SDGs and how international cooperation helps to shape these efforts.
The European Sustainable Development Network (ESDN) is an association and network of public administrators and other experts dealing with sustainable development (SD) strategies and policies in Europe. The ESDN Association, as a learning and exchange platform, mainly deals with issues related to the preparation and implementation of national strategies and processes serving the implementation of the international commitments related to sustainable development, mainly the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
You can read more about the ESDN workshop in Montenegro and download the workshop’s background paper here.
The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre presented its “local SDG mosaic” at UNECE Regional Forum side event
On 14 March 2024, Tallinn Sustainability Governance Hub organised an online side event to the UN Economic Commission for Europe’s (UNECE) yearly Regional Forum. The session featured the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), the UN Environment Programme’s Cities Division and representatives from the Tallinn and Tbilisi city administrations, discussing how stakeholders at all levels can work together to close the SDG action gap, from now until 2030.
Dr. Iraklis Stamos from JRC presented the centre’s ongoing stock-taking exercise and analysis of actions reported in cities and regions’ Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs). The aim of the research is to better understand where cities are regions are currently focusing their SDG actions, feeding into policymaking and dialogue at all levels. Read the full recap and watch the recording here.
Stuttgart together for the International Sustainability Goals
On 10 April, our Sustainability Governance Advisor Stina Heikkilä was in Stuttgart to attend the local event “Stuttgart together for the International Sustainability Goals!”, where people from across the city administration came together to learn more about the city’s most recent efforts to localise the UN Sustainable Development Goals. An impressive database and the city’s third Voluntary Local Review were on the agenda. We were happy to bring Tallinn’s work on sustainability governance to provide an international example, while realising how similar the questions we face are!
We found interesting the efforts taken by the Stuttgart city administration to “anchor” the SDGs in various way, including through a permanent working group tasked with coordinating sustainable development, and a new project linking the city budget to the SDGs. This latter will really help the city move towards SDG impact by linking resources to concrete goals and ambitions.
You can read more about Stuttgart’s efforts in the new VLR available here (an English version is available for download on the page).
Tallinn welcomes twin cities for study visit
On 14-16 May, Tallinn is hosting the cities of Vinnytsia (Ukraine), Kutaisi (Georgia), Narva (Estonia) and municipality of Saaremaa (Estonia) for a study visit. During the study visit we will present the strategic planning system of Tallinn as well as share our experience in localising SDGs and hosting a Citizens’ Assembly. The sub-theme of the visit is circular economy, as we are supporting these cities in integrating sustainable development in their strategic priorities in circular economy.