With the UN mid-term review of the SDGs and the publication of the first ever EU Voluntary Review, 2023 was a key year for SDGs and many activities took place to contribute to these milestones.
2024 should be the year to digest all data and information that was gathered and presented at the UN. It should be the year to draw lessons from this data, and take action to overcome the challenges identified last year.
Among the intense activity of 2024, the CoR teamed up with the OECD and the UN SDSN to carry out a survey: "Localising the SDGs in a changing landscape" which ran from 22 February 2023 until 9 June 2023.
The results are analysed and detailed in the OECD corresponding report, launched on 20 March of this year. One of the key results was that financing was a major obstacle to localise SDGs in the EU.
In parallel, the EU Voluntary Review also acknowledged the need to work with the European Committee of the Regions to reach out to local and regional authorities to accelerate SDGs implementation.
On this basis, the CoR is organising this workshop to have a structured dialogue between the European Commission and EU local and regional authorities on an identified key topic of SDGs: Financing. The aim of the workshop is two-fold: to brief the European Commission administration on challenges to territorialise SDGs ahead of the nomination of its new leaders; and inform regions and cities about EU financing opportunities, notably by the European Commission and the European Investment Bank.
The event will feature key European Commission services, as well as regions and cities representatives, territorial associations and CoR members leading on the implementation of SDGs.
The discussion will showcase examples of best practice in carrying forward SDGs at local and regional level and will involve key partners such as the OECD and the EU Joint Research Centre.
This dialogue workshop is complementary with an EU-UN Dialogue on SDGs localisation which will take place in the afternoon of the same day.