Sustainable Development Goals & Sustainable Cities at EU Green Week

Tackling the Post-2015 development agenda and the sustainable development goals (SDGs) is a massive global challenge. This EU Green Week, UNEP co-organised a session to help kick-start the debate following the report of the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Panel (HLP) released on May 30th.

Dr. Maria Ivanova, an expert in international environmental governance & an academic who has followed UNEP closely for many years, led the discussion using the HLP's report as a basis for debate. She explained the five transformative shifts the HLP set out and the 12 illustrative goals along with seven cross-cutting issues.

While the panel unanimously accepted the HLP's statement that "the battle for sustainable development will be won or lost in our cities," whether 'cities' should have their own SDG was contentious.

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European Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik agreed with the HLP position that cities are a cross-cutting issue, UNEP's Michele Candotti similarly adding that they are the "heart" of sustainable development.

Former Mexico City Environment Secretary Martha Delgado was clear that when cities set targets, they meet them. "If there would be an SDG on sustainable cities it would be the first goal to be met," was her view. Debate from the audience echoed these two schools of thought, with UN-Habitat's Rafael Tuts clearly preferring an SDG.

Plenty of questions are left in the SDG and Post-2015 discussions. The panel also covered lessons from the MDGs, the structural issues in developing global goals, the universality of SDGs, how to construct the subsequent targets and indicators.

> A full video of the session is available here