Estonia

The National Commission for SD is an advisory body to the government. It consists of non-governmental organisations and its task is to monitor and participate in the implementation of national sustainable development goals and SDGs in Estonia. The Government Office Strategy Unit is the secretariat for the Commission, but the Commission itself consists of non-governmental organisations and is led by a president who is elected from among the members of the Commission.

The mainstreaming of Agenda 2030 is planned alongside European Semester obligations and other international commitments.

The National Strategy on Sustainable Development "Sustainable Estonia 21" (adpted in 2005) has the following objectives:

• viability of the Estonian cultural space
• growth of welfare
• socially coherent society
• ecological balance

A  new long-term strategy, 'Estonia 2035', is being drafted. It will establish from three to five new long-term goals for Estonia taking into account the SDGs. According to the set timeline, the strategy “Estonia 2035” should be ready for approval by the government in April 2020.

• Estonia has made use of existing structures and policy mechanisms inside the Government Office's Strategy Unit to mainstream Agenda 2030. The Strategy Director and the Strategy Unit also function as the coordinator for all SD policy issues;
• Estonia does not plan to draft an implementation plan for the SDGs. Agenda 2030 and sustainable development goals are implemented through different government action plans and strategic documents;
• SD indicators are the main monitoring mechanism for the SDGs. In 2017 the set of SD indicators was renewed and approved by the SD commission. An indicator-based sustainable development report gives information on Estonia's performance on the SDGs;
• Comparative and  gap analysis comparing Agenda 2030 to the NSDS published November 2016 recommends Estonia to:
  • thoroughly update SE21 to reflect the new reality in geopolitics and advances in technological development;
  • update the set of SD indicators to measure Agenda 2030 progress;
  • simplify SE21 as a text but link the document to policy processes more clearly, including by establishing a single monitoring system, developing assumptions for ex-ante impact assessments, and establishing a forward planning system.