Redouble Efforts on Sustainable Advancement, Deputy Secretary-General Stresses, within Remarks to European Committee of Regions

Local2030 is a strategic network that is designed to help local and local leaders around the world to share best practices and solutions, unlocking bottlenecks and implementing strategies to progress the Sustainable Development Targets at the local level. As members of the European Committee of Regions, you might have an essential role in using the Sustainable Development Goals down to earth and making them genuine and concrete in people’s lives. We urgently need to redouble our attempts on sustainable development and the 2030  Agenda. We wish you a productive discussion. This will be the centrepiece in our work on sustainable development this season — an opportunity to agree on transformative policies to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals and get back on track for implementation by 2030. Out of your work on climate and biodiversity to your innovative partnerships and your leadership on data plus monitoring, I commend Europe’s commitment to a sustainable continent in a sustainable world. Cities and regions in the European Union can also play an important part beyond Europe’s borders, throughout your learning exchanges and relationships with local governments in other countries around the world. In closing, I urge you all to play a full part in the Sustainable Development Goals Summit in New York in September. Local partnerships can spark innovative new tips and solutions that accelerate progress. Local action is important to mobilize key constituencies including civil society, the private sector and academia — all critical to Sustainable Development Goals execution. Thanks to the opportunity to address the Committee of the Regions and to help renew the impetus on implementing the Sustainable Growth Goals at regional plus local levels. I invite you to participate in Local2030 and to provide your support. Your engagement with under-represented groups including women and girls, young people, and those who are remote or marginalized, can empower them and bring the Environmentally friendly Development Goals to life. We rely on you to bring your solid engagement, creative ideas and energy to the Sustainable Development Objectives Summit. After decades of improvement, key indicators on hunger and poverty are going straight into reverse; the climate emergency is accelerating, and inequalities are growing; the world remains recovering from the COVID-19 outbreak. You might have unique contact with people and communities at local and regional levels. The war in Ukraine has now delivered enormous suffering and heartbreak to Europe and turbo charge global crises in access to food, energy and financing. We are determined to amplify the voices of nearby governments, young people, and women at all levels of decision-making. Policies and initiatives which have been tried and tested by cities plus regions can catalyse change that will save and enhance lives and livelihoods around the world. At the global level, there exists a growing understanding that the problems of our age — through the climate crisis to the dangers posed by unregulated systems — cannot be solved simply by Governments alone. Last October, I had the satisfaction of opening the Local2030 Secretariat in Bilbao.   I actually once again thank the Basque authorities and the Government of Spain for their strong assistance. Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s virtual remarks to the European Committee of the Locations, in Geneva today: I commend your commitment to prepare and present the first European Union voluntary review to the Sustainable Development Goals this year.   This will be an important opportunity to consider stock of the European Union’s internal and external implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and to take a look at best practices. It’s no secret that halfway through execution, the Sustainable Development Targets are in trouble. The Secretary-General has placed proposals for a more comprehensive multilateralism that benefits from the particular insights and approaches of local and regional government authorities, civil society, the personal sector, academia and more. If we are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, they must deliver for people in cities and regions.   The United Nations voluntary local reviews display inspiring examples of action from Argentina to Japan through Hawaii and Finland.

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