National Strategy / Action Plan

There is no National Strategy / Action Plan in Finland

Lead Government Body

Performance

There is no Performance in Finland

Summary

  • Finland is a front-runner in mainstreaming Agenda 2030 into its policy documents (specifically Commitment 2050) and into its budget from 2019 onwards.
  • An innovative tool for CSO engagement in SDG monitoring and implementation has been launched in the form of Commitment2050.fi, where commitments to specific actions can be submitted. 
  • An independent evaluation on Finland's progress on sustainable development will be carried out for 2020.

Description of the initiative

    Actors

    Lead government body
    National Economic and Social Council
    Sustainable Development Council
    SD council text

    (coordination of the Commission takes place at the Prime Minister's Office)

    Institutional framework

    Lead and supporting government bodies

    The Prime Minister's Office has been coordinating the implementation of Agenda 2030 since early 2016, when it established a coordination secretariat and inter-ministerial network (SD Coordination Network). The internal dimension of SD is covered by the SD Council (the NCSD), while the external dimension is covered by the Development Policy Committee, which is a parliamentary body under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Both committees are supported by an Expert Panel on Sustainable Development and collaborate closely.

    Strategic framework
    • The Finnish SD Council adopted in 2013 its long-term vision "The Finland we want by 2050 – Society's Commitment to Sustainable Development". It was updated in April 2016 to be in line with Agenda 2030. The vision is a long-term, shared objective for the future of Finland built on a simple idea – concrete actions, measurable results.
    • Finland participated in the Voluntary National Review at the HLPF in 2016. After that the government prepared a national implementation plan (submitted to the Parliament in February 2017), that specifies how SDGs will be implemented and integrated into Finnish national policies. The next Voluntary National Review will be presented at the HLPF in 2020.
    Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals

    Finland's priorities are to implement the long-term vision in a broad-based and bottom-up manner, with the involvement of all actors.

    Implementation of Agenda 2030 in Finland builds on two themes, as well as three policy principles: long-term action and transformation, policy coherence and global partnership, ownership and participation. 

    The government implementation plan is based on "Society's Commitment to Sustainable Development" (and Commitment2050.fi), which provides an implementation tool for anyone wishing to participate in implementing Agenda 2030 by uploading operational commitments. About 1700 commitments had been made by Q1/2019.

    Role of civil society

    Civil society platform text
    • Commitment2050.fi is a Finnish online initiative where civil society organisations, businesses and citizens can make pledges for promoting sustainable development
    • Sitra Expert Panel on Sustainable Development, organised by the University of Helsinki, the Natural Resource Institute of Finland and the Finnish Environment Institute,, and meeting about six times a year.
    • Youth Group for Agenda 2030 consists of 17 young people and is coordinated by Allianssi (Finnish Youth Cooperation)
    • Finnish Development NGOs – Fingo, functions as an umbrella organisation for Finnish NGOs working in the areas of development cooperation and global education.
    Involvement in implementation of Sustainable Development Goals

    Civil society is involved in both the SD council and in the Development Policy Committee.

    Roughly half of the 50+ members of the SD council are civil society organisations representing employers, workers, consumers, environmental NGOs and young people.

    Civil society platform for 2030

    The Finnish Development NGOs – Fingo was founded in 2018 to work as an umbrella organisation to 300 Finnish member organisations working in the areas of development cooperation and global education.

    SD council or equivalent

    Tasks
    • The NCSD involves the society at large in promoting sustainable development, and in boosting implementation of Agenda 2030 and integrating it both into national sustainable development planning and societal practice.
    • The NCSD is also in charge of monitoring implementation of the long-term vision.
    Organisation
    • The secretariat of the NCSD consists of officials from the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Environment.
    • An expert panel on sustainable development hosted by SITRA (Finnish Innovation Fund) and consisting of eight professors was established in 2014 to provide the NCSD with scientific support.
    • The Agenda2030 Youth Group provides the voice of youth in the meetings

    National Economic & Social Council

    Organisation

    The secretariat of the nESC collaborates with the SD council as well as the nESCs of other countries on sustainable development, among other topics.

    Tasks
    • The nESC meets on a monthly basis to discuss social and economic issues.
    • The secretariat prepares meetings of the Economic Council. It also organises and, in part, produces reports and analyses for use by the Council.
    • In addition, the secretariat monitors economic policy developments and performs other duties assigned to it by the Chairperson of the Economic Council.
    Activities

    Monitoring & Evaluation

    Performance

    UN SDSN SDG Index Country Profile

    Finland ranks 3rd in the SDG global ranking of 2019

    Indicators

    Results of continuous monitoring are published in the monitoring section of the Finnish sustainable development website (in Finnish) on the basis of ten pre-defined sets of indicators.

    Each of the ten sets includes 4-5 indicators updated annually.

    The complete list of indicators (set up in 2017) used for monitoring SDGs in Finland (in Finnish).

    The indicator sets are defined by the SD council and the Prime Minister's Office in consultation with researchers, experts and civil society organisations.

    The global indicators are provided by Statistics Finland. It published its indicator database in the spring of 2019. Only 54 % per cent of the global indicators were available in Finland.

    Voluntary National Report

    Finland is at an advanced stage of planning and implementing Agenda 2030, with policy documents and operational plans adopted in early 2017 and thoroughly integrated into existing institutional structures, with inter-ministerial coordination to ensure policy coherence. These place SD in a broader societal context while political leadership at the highest level ensures policy coherence.

    Strengths identified as education and social stability, while climate change and better use of natural resources are perceived as challenges. Finland is ranked highly in comparative indices, but progress has been slow in recent years. The incumbent government thus wants to focus its implementation plan on consistent progression.

    Finland's current Voluntary National Review (2016) can be accessed here.

    Finland is currently preparing its next VNR, which will be presented at the 2020 HLPF.The general secretariat for the Commission for Sustainable Development will start a consultation process for the civil society organisations in August of 2019 in order to have as inclusive and transparent process as possible.