The European Committee of the Regions and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development invite representatives of local and regional authorities across Europe to participate in a survey on the Sustainable Development Goals. The 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals were designed in 2015 to achieve a better and more sustainable future and are intended to be achieved by the year 2030. The consultation is open until Friday 11 June 2021.

The Covid-19 pandemic can give us a chance to re-think and re-orient our common efforts to build a more fair and sustainable society in Europe and beyond. Nevertheless, the most crucial starting efforts begin at the local level which has to be supported at every step. In this regard, the EU, including the CoR, is supporting local authorities with several initiatives and funding opportunities.

The survey is expected to gather evidence on the progress achieved by local and regional authorities in the two years following the first survey and to highlight the additional difficulties they are facing after the outbreak of the pandemic. This is particularly important in order to identify what is preventing local authorities to achieve established goals and how can the EU assist them. Without this two-way communication, the path for improvement and prosperity can take much longer. We believe that the local authorities reflect better what citizens would like to see improved in their everyday lives, which makes it even more important to keep engaging with local authorities.

The results of the survey will be presented during the European Week of Regions and Cities in October. They will also contribute to a CoR opinion on SDGs including the broader OECD Programme on „A Territorial Approach to SDGs: How cities and regions can help citizens without leaving no one behind”.

Irrespective if you are a private entity or a local authority, in case you would like to know more about EU initiatives or public funding opportunities, the B2EU Consulting team is at your disposal.

Image © United Nations, 2020