The European Parliament today called on the Commission to produce an EU implementation strategy for the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to analyse the gaps in policies that could impact their achievement. The Parliament vote on its ‘EU action for sustainability’ report comes two weeks after Member States adopted council conclusions making similar calls.
“The message is loud, clear, and unanimous. Moving on sustainable development is paramount to both the EU Parliament and the Member States. They are tasking the Commission with producing a plan on SDGs and assessing the inconsistencies in current EU policy. It is time the Commission sat up, paid heed, and got to work,” commented Sally Nicholson, head of development and finance policy at WWF European Policy Office.
MEPs also called for the next EU budget to be reorientated towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“Funding needs to be attached to the SDGs if the EU is serious about their implementation – it’s great to see MEPs are aware of this. The European Commission must follow through when negotiations on the future EU multi-annual budget begin this year”, added Nicholson.
The European Parliament report flags the importance of sustainability in Europe’s future. In June, WWF and over 250 NGOs launched a vision for a more democratic, just and sustainable Europe.
The Parliament report also calls for the impacts of sourcing commodities and natural resources within and outside the EU to be better addressed in EU policy-making, for action on climate change to be integral to SDG implementation and for the need to decouple economic growth from resource consumption – all welcomed by WWF.
This report is a response to the Commission’s communication on “Next steps for a sustainable European future: EU action for sustainability” from November 2016.
