The EESC at the High-Level Political Forum on sustainable development

© UN

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was approaching its third year in the march towards realizing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. To achieve them, the full engagement of everyone is needed, This means strong partnerships between civil society, their representative organisations, trade unions, business and government.

The High-level Political Forum session this year focused on the theme "Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies".

The European Economic and Social Committee, as the body representing organised civil society at the EU, was delighted to partner with several member states this year to co-host side events for knowledge exchange on important aspects that relate to the five environmental SDGs in focus at HLPF 2018.

Partnering with Romania

  • The EESC demonstrated civil society's engagement with monitoring the implementation of the SDGs at local and EU level to define enabling conditions for a strong and active role of all stakeholders.

Partnering with Latvia, Slovenia and Estonia

  • The EESC showcased initiatives and lessons learned from the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform, where civil society organisations, businesses and trade unions are working to achieve sustainable production and consumption processes in the EU.

Empowering citizens and civil society groups is the best way to achieve sustainable prosperity for all. By promoting the concept of participatory governance and multi-stakeholder partnerships between states and non-state actors, these side events also aim at contributing to SDG 17, included in the 2018 set of SDGs to be reviewed.

Downloads

European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform
EESC Members delegation to HLPF
Position Paper UN-HLPF Sustainable development