National Strategy / Action Plan
There is no National Strategy / Action Plan in Spain
CSO platform(s)
Lead Government Body
SD council or equivalent
Performance
There is no Performance in Spain
High-Level Group for Agenda 2030
Technical Interministerial Working Group
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation – DG for Sustainable Development Policies (Dirección General de Políticas para el Desarrollo Sostenible del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y Cooperación)
The Ministries of Ecological Transition and of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food seem particularly committed to the Agenda 2030
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment
Ministry of Public Works and Transport
Several regional governments have established their own regional advisory councils.
High-Level Group for Agenda 2030
Technical Interministerial Working Group
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation – DG for Sustainable Development Policies (Dirección General de Políticas para el Desarrollo Sostenible del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y Cooperación)
The Ministries of Ecological Transition and of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food seem particularly committed to the Agenda 2030
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment
Ministry of Public Works and Transport
Several regional governments have established their own regional advisory councils.
In June 2018 a High Committee for the 2030 Agenda was created under direct supervision of the PM Minister office: It is in charge of driving the elaboration and development of strategies and action plans for the agenda 2030, monitoring its implementation, collaborating with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and driving the elaboration of statistics and information system to measure the implementation of the SDGs.
The High-Level Group that was created in 2017 was reformed in 2019. It is now chaired by the Vice-president and in charge of translating the SDG to the different departments, analysing plans and strategies in relation with the agenda 2030, creating working groups in relation with the SDGs and ensuring the contact with CSOs and the coherence of public policies with the agenda 2030.
A technical Interministrial Working Group has also been created with the task of coordinating the implementation of the SDGs in the different ministries.
In February 2019 Congress and Senate have created a mixed Committee for monitoring the implementation of the 2030 agenda.
The first Spanish National Sustainable Development Strategy was adopted in November 2007.
The Spanish government has adopted an Action Plan for the Implementation of Agenda 2030 with the declared objective of renewing the SD Strategy in 2019. However, it will be up to the new government constituted after the April 2019 elections to decide on next steps.
The Spanish government is currently carrying out a prior analysis and looking at considerations for possible development of a new SDG strategy. Thus far, there has been greater focus on the external dimension (related to development and cooperation policy) of Agenda 2030.
The Action Plan for the Implementation of Agenda 2030 specifies that each SDG has been assigned to a Ministry that will act as a focus point and coordinate the implementation of each SDG with other ministries. A mapping of the actions taken by each Ministry in relation to the SDGs was also presented in the Action Plan and will be regularly updated.
Equally the Action Plan indicates that for any new policy initiative an assessment of the impact in the SDGs will be done.
Many other initiatives have also been introduced in different areas in order to comply with the SDGs, for example: the government is working long term strategy for an modern, competitive and climatically neutral economy and a new strategy against energy poverty. Equally in January, the Ministry for Energy Transition organized a high level global event on climate change and sustainable development. As well, in April 2019 the government launched a platform to help SMEs implement the SDG
Several Autonomous Communities have adopted their own SD strategies and have created regional advisory councils. Inter-regional cooperation is also being promoted. For example, in November 2017 several regional authorities and REDS organised a workshop to exchange experiences in the implementation of Agenda 2030. As an output of the meeting, the regional authorities participating signed a declaration entitled A regional agenda for the SDGs.
Finally, several initiatives are promoting the implementation of SDGs at local level. In October 2018, REDS in collaboration with a 100 municipalities published a report on 'Sustainable cities: Looking into the future' about the implementation of the SDGs at local level.
Futuro en Común (“a future together”): an alliance of several multisectorial NGOs (Oxfam Intermón, UNICEF Comité Español, WWF España, among others).
Civil society has been active in asking the government to take further action to renew the national SD strategic framework.
The involvement of CSO on the implementation of the SDGs has been formalized with the creation of the Sustainable Development Council.
Several NGOs monitor the implementation of Agenda 2030 in Spain regularly. For instance, relevant NGOs published in September 2018 a report on the implementations of the SDGs. As well, a new tool has been recently created to monitor the activities of the congress in relation to Agenda 2030.
The Spanish Network for Sustainable Development (REDS) is a significant network in Spain composed mainly of members from academia. REDS is part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Recently REDS has published several reports and organized several activities in relation to the SDGs:
The Platform 'Futuro en Común' created by more tan 50 CSO has a SDG observatory.
Spain had an Environmental Advisory Council’s created in 2004, which hadn´t been very active in the past years.
On 22 February 2019, a new Sustainable Development Council was created.
Advise the High Commissioner for the 2030 agenda in the elaboration and implementation of strategies and plans.
Produce documents and reports on the implementation of the 2030 agenda.
Contribute to raising awareness about the 2030 agenda amongst the Spanish population.
Encourage the dialogue between the social, economic and cultural stakeholder to achieve the SDGs.
The Council of Sustainable Development works under the High Committeee for the 2030 Agenda.
Its chair is the High Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda and it is composed by 48 members. They come from business organizations, universities, NGOs, consumers, family, youth associations and other Civil Society Organisations as well as the Spanish regions and municipalities. There are also 5 experts on the SDG.
It has two bodies, a plenary and a permanent commission. Both meet at least two times a year. As well, different working groups can be created to discuss specific issues.
The Council has recently been created and its exact composition is still unknown.
On 26 February 2019 it was presented in act to which the President of the Government, the High Commissioner to the 2030 agenda, Amina Mohammed, deputy Secretary General of the UN, and many Civil Society Organisations attended.
The nESC competences are set out by Law 21/1991.
The nESC has no specific mandate regarding Agenda 2030 and the SDGs.
The nESC consists of 61 members representing employers' associations, trade unions and other organisations.
The nESC has no specific task strictly related to Agenda 2030 and the SDGs.
The nESC adopted an opinion on the 2007 SD Strategy at the request of the national authorities.
Although the nESC does not monitor SDG implementation, it draws up an annual report analysing the socioeconomic and employment situation in Spain that includes to some extent an analysis of progress on several SDGs.
In the framework of international development cooperation, the nESC promotes the implementation of the SDGs in third countries. For example, the nESC promotes structured and enhanced social dialogue in Latin America and participates in the Spanish Intercoonecta cooperation programme, directly linked to the achievement of the SDGs in Ibero-America.
The Spanish nESC has not adopted a specific opinion on Agenda 2030 and the SDGs.
The nESC published the annual report on the socioeconomic and employment situation in Spain (access the latest report).
In July 2018, the nESC organised an event on stability an sustainable development
UN SDSN SDG Index Country Profile
Spain ranks 21st in the SDG global index ranking for 2019.
The Action Plan tasks the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) with preparing a set of indicators for the agenda 2030
INE has prepared a tool with the UN SDG indicators it monitors and has committed to continue adding more indicators in the future.
In its Action Plan the government commits to present each year an annual report on the implementation of the SDs in front of the Congress and Senate
The Voluntary National Review was presented at the 2018 UN High-level Political Forum. Civil society organisations were involved in this review process.
Spain's Voluntary National Review can be accessed here.
The Sustainability Observatory published an SDG progress report in 2018, which stated that Spain has only progressed in three objectives: 2. Zero Hungry; 11 Sustainable cities and communities; and 12 Responsible Production and Consumption.
Other actors have been also working on SDG implementation in Spain, such as the Global Compact Spanish Network, which has worked on a number of guidelines to help companies align their core business with the SDGs.
