Background

The Civil Society Forum for Sustainability – Shaping the European Green Deal is co-organised by SOLIDAR, the European Environmental Bureau and SDG Watch Europe within the framework of the REAL_DEAL project, a Horizon 2020 research project focused on reshaping citizens participation and deliberative democracy in the framework of the European Green Deal (EGD) and a just transition.  

Specifically focused upon assessing the gaps and opportunities in implementing an ambitious EGD and the 2030 Agenda, the third meeting of the Forum will bring CSOs together to deliberate on the SDGs and specifically the European Voluntary Review (EU VR). 

The main objective of the third edition will be to discuss the role that CSOs can play in monitoring and shadow reporting on the SDGs, to share good practices and to strengthen CSO capacities in monitoring and evaluation of SDG implementation. As CSOs rarely participate directly in EU processes, the informal agora of the Forum serves as a friendly hub for CSOs to coalesce around the monitoring of Europe’s implementation of the SDGs and the EGD.

The EU Voluntary Review and a Civil Society Spotlight Report

Serving as a Europe-wide Voluntary National Review, the EU VR is an opportunity for the EU to monitor its global progress on the Sustainable Development Goals by producing a detailed review report, foreseen for April 2023 and lead by the European Commission, ahead of the 2023 HLPF and the SDG Summit.

Civil society is an important part of sustainability policies in Europe, and the EU must not fall behind well-established practices at HLPF which involve civil society and a critical reflection of European sustainability policies. The EU VR must therefore be an honest and inclusive stocktaking of where Europe and its relationship and impact on the rest of the world stands on SDG Implementation, and a constructive assessment of how much remains to be done for Europe to meet its sustainability commitments under the SDGs, the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement, and the European Green Deal.

The results of the discussions of the forum will be collectively compiled into a report which will serve as a civil society spotlight report for the European Voluntary Review. This will be shared with relevant policymakers, such as at the 2023 HLPF, the relevant Directorate Generals in the European Commission; Members of Parliament (MEPs); European Parliament Committees; Permanent Representations to the EU, among others. The Forum meeting therefore marks a key moment to bring civil society together for a longer engagement to co-develop a spotlight report that can be used for further advocacy work and hold the EU to account on its SDG implementation.

Event programme

You can find the full agenda and the list of speakers below and in this link.

Day 1: Wednesday 25^th January 2023

Day 2: Thursday 26^th January 2023

Speakers

• Lucija Karnelutti (Slovenia) is EU Youth Delegate to the United Nations for the UNGA 77th session. Previously, she was Slovenian Youth Delegate to the UN and Board Member of the Organizing Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU), representing European school students of general and vocational education, as well as monitoring and giving recommendations on the interests of youth in various public policies at national and European level.
• Guillaume Lafortune is Vice President and Head of the Paris Office at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). He joined SDSN in 2017 to lead work on SDG data, policies, and financing including the preparation of the Sustainable Development Report. Previously, he served as an economist at the OECD and Government of Quebec (Canada).
• Mogens Lykketoft is an economist by training and a veteran Danish parliamentarian and government minister. He served as President of the United Nations General Assembly, from September 2015 to September 2016 during the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement.  Since then, he has devoted most of his time to work and call for urgent action on sustainable development in general and climate action in particular.

How to register?

Does your organisation work on the areas covered by the Forum? Are you interested in attending this meeting?

If so, please register using the following link .

More information

For questions on the Civil Society Forum for Sustainability: Shaping the European Green Deal, do not hesitate to contact Hilmi Tekoglu, Policy Officer for Just Transition at SOLIDAR, at [email protected] and Jeffrey Moxom, SDG Watch Europe Coordinator at the European Environmental Bureau, at [email protected]