Posted on September, 23 2016

Brussels, Belgium - 23 September 2016

One year after the EU signed the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, little progress has been made on its implementation.

The European Commission has yet to publish a strategy for meeting the Agenda’s 17 goals and building a sustainable Europe.

“The Agenda’s first birthday cake is only half-baked: key ingredients are missing,” commented Geneviève Pons, Director of WWF European Policy Office. “Every policy area must be included in the recipe for a truly sustainable Europe, and its three main flavours should be inclusiveness, equality and sustainability.”

“EU citizens are counting on the European Commission to get the recipe right and rapidly provide an inclusive, over-arching strategy for a sustainable Europe”, added Pons.

All EU policy areas from employment and social affairs, to climate and energy, to trade and industry, are affected by the Agenda and its goals.

To mark the first anniversary of the Sustainable Development Agenda, WWF European Policy Office sent Commissioners and MEPs a card reminding them of the importance of action. 

Notes to the editor:

On 25 September 2015, 193 parties adopted the global plan, Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

WWF is calling for the EU to develop a vision for the comprehensive implementation of the Agenda which encompasses all the relevant domestic and external policy areas.