This unique book expertly analyses European political entrepreneurship in relation to the European Union’s approach towards the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development strategy. It explores the role of European political entrepreneurs in shaping, influencing and realising the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Chapters examine EU actors in the context of numerous development goals to assess how political entrepreneurship challenges traditional EU institutions and promotes visionary activity.
This year’s focus explores the interrelationship between the human and fundamental rights framework and the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the global Agenda 2030 in the context of Member States’ and the EU’s internal policies. It takes a closer look at the SDGs related to reducing inequality (SDG 10) and promoting peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16). The focus highlights the importance of collecting disaggregated data on hard-to-reach population groups to develop evidence-based, targeted and rights-compliant policies that help empower everyone, particularly those most at risk of being left behind. The focus also examines how the EU and its Member States are following up on their commitment to embed a rights-based approach to sustainable development; looks at policy coordination tools and financial instruments that can help to promote SDG implementation in full respect of fundamental rights; and emphasises the importance of national human rights institutions, equality bodies and ombuds institutions, as well as local authorities, business communities and civil society, in mainstreaming the human rights dimension of SDGs.
"This Eurostat publication, entitled "Sustainable development in the European Union - A statistical glance from the viewpoint of the UN Sustainable Development Goals", provides an overview of the current situation of the EU and its Member States on sustainable development in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This publication follows a strictly descriptive approach, presenting a purely statistical picture based on facts and figures. It provides rather a snapshot of the starting position of the EU and its Member States and is not intended as a regular SDG monitoring exercise at EU level. The analysis in this publication is based on a limited number of indicators, which are relevant to the EU perspective and capture the broader objective and ambition of each SDG. Each goal is analysed through two to four indicators. In total, 51 indicators are presented in the report, mainly obtained from the European Statistical System and disseminated by Eurostat. The analysis of Member States' performance and international comparisons focus on the most recent year for each indicator. EU-28 trends over time are also presented, covering the period from 2000 or 2002 up to the most recent year for which data are available (2014 or 2015)."--Back cover.
This volume describes the thinking on sustainable development and a variety of initiatives across Europe, illustrating regional efforts to foster sustainable communities and ecological and social innovation. It contains various contributions which showcase examples of thinking, economic and social structures and in consumption and production patterns needed, to implement the SDGs. This book is part of the "100 papers to accelerate the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals initiative".
The 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development offers a unique framework for transformative pathways towards sustainability worldwide. The 2030 Agenda also requires a paradigm shift in governance, - at and between all levels. This study examines the governance frameworks put in place for SDG implementation in all EU Member States, and the resulting country fiches constitute the first comprehensive comparative overview of these. The study also provides an overview of the developments at EU level and has a special focus on the role of parliaments in implementing Agenda 2030. Our analysis shows that EU Member States are integrating SDGs into national strategies. While Member States have taken steps to enhance horizontal policy coordination, there is a continuing need for better mainstreaming sustainability. Member States innovate with SDG budgeting, science-policy interface, and stakeholder participation mechanisms for making these strategies more operational. Parliaments show increasing activity on the SDGs and the EP could benefit from enhanced collaboration. The EU could learn from and support these initiatives. Dynamising the multi-level governance bears a great potential for sustainable progress for all players and is a requisite to accelerate SDG implementation at all levels. By capturing the two-level character of SDG implementation at the EU and the Member State level, the study contributes to an overarching joint voluntary EU report at the HLPF 2019.
Governments across the WHO European Region need to take urgent action to address the growing public health inequality economic and environmental challenges in order to achieve sustainable development (meeting current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs) and to ensure health and well-being for present and future generations. Based on a scoping review this report concludes that current investment policies and practices (doing business as usual) are unsustainable with high costs to individuals families communities societies the economy and the planet. Investment in public health policies that are based on values and evidence provides effective and efficient inclusive and innovative solutions that can drive social economic and environmental sustainability. Investing for health and well-being is a driver and an enabler of sustainable development and vice versa and it empowers people to achieve the highest attainable standard of health for all.
There have been significant efforts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at multiple levels of governance across all regions of the world. However, the manner in which the global governance norms underlying the SDGs are actually being diffused is under-researched and not well understood. This book considers the promotion of the SDGs through the lens of norm diffusion theory, with a focus on three SDG policy areas; health, education and decent work. A distinctive feature of the book is that it offers multiple original case studies of SDG norm diffusion involving Asian and European actors. A unique feature is that the case studies in the book identify relevant SDG norm senders and norm receivers, and examine the relationship between them. The book also challenges the assumption that the SDGs themselves are static and unchanging, and reveals how SDG norms are dynamic and can be reformulated as a result of contestation between norm senders and norm receivers. As well as introducing a diverse and original set of case studies, the book therefore allows readers to deepen their understandings of the policy diffusion mechanisms by which SDGs are diffused, and grasp the patterns of success and failure in the implementation of these policies. Chapters 4, 5 and 7 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 licence.
