Upgrading Europe: Building Transformative Policies to Reach the Sustainable Development Goals (Belgium 2024)

Wednesday, 05 June 2024

ESDN Opening

Marguy Kohnen, Former ESDN Vice President, Luxembourg

                            &

Elisabeth Freytag-Rigler, ESDN Vice President, Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Austria

Host Welcome

Dieter Vander Beke, ESDN Advisory Board Member, Director of the Federal Institute for Sustainable Development, Belgium

Ingredients for Making Sustainable Development Policies Transformative

Peter Schmidt, President of the Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Section (NAT) at the European Economic and Social Committee, Germany

Science to Policy - Pathways for Accelerating Transformations

Åsa Persson, Research Director and Deputy Director, Stockholm Environment Institute, Sweden (virtual)

SDGs for All: Developing Strategic Scenarios

Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Co-President Club of Rome and Project lead for Earth4All, Belgium

Thursday, 06 June

Future Forward: ESDN Youth Network Insights on Europe’s Key Issues

David Esatia, ESDN Youth Network Member, Georgia

                                      &

Elisabeth Hosszu, ESDN Youth Network Member, Belgium

                                      &

Lukáš Švaňa, ESDN Youth Network Member, Slovakia                        

Enhancing Governance for a more Resilient Europe

Patrizia Heidegger, Deputy Secretary General, Director for EU Governance, Sustainability and Global Policies, European Environmental Bureau, Belgium

Bringing Together all Sectors in Society to Cooperate on the SDGs for Integrated Policymaking

Judith Maas, Director SDG Nederland, Netherlands

Nordic Voluntary Subnational Review – The local level as a driver for transformational change

Åsa Hildestrand, Senior Project Manager for Nordic VSR, Nordregio, Sweden

Transformative Ideas - Ensuring a just share of progress for all

Kalina Arabadjieva, Senior Researcher, European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), Belgium

Sustainable Development Transformations in the Private Sector

Jan Noterdaeme, Senior Advisor & Co-Founder of CSR Europe, Belgium

Table 1: Belgium – Just Transition Process

 Martine Vandervennet, Federal Institute for Sustainable Development, Belgium

Table 2: Germany – Addressing Transformation in the National Sustainable Development Strategy

Christina Fischer, ESDN Advisory Board Member, Federal Chancellery, Germany

Table 3: Italy – Localizing the SDGs through policy coherence for sustainable development

Andrea Innamorati, Senior Policy Advisor, Ministry for the Environment and Energy Security, Italy

Table 4: Latvia – Transformative Power of Culture in Sustainable Development

Baiba Murniece, Deputy Head of the Department of Culture Policy, Ministry of Culture, Latvia

                                                     &

Māra Sīmane, State Chancellery - Cross Sectoral Coordination Department, Latvia

Table 5: Malta – Process of SDG budget alignment

Francine Pace Caruana, Director of Sustainable Development, Ministry for the Environment, Energy & Regeneration of the Grand Harbour, Malta

Table 6: Netherlands – National Sustainable Development Report – Linking the SDGs to 6 Major Transitions

Sandra Pellegrom, ESDN Advisory Board Member and National SDG Coordinator, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands

Table 7: Romania – Upskilling public sector staff as sustainable development experts towards more transformative policies

Iris Constantin, Counsellor, Prime Minister’s Office – Department of Sustainable Development, Romania

Table 8: Slovakia – Steering transformative policies for sustainable development from the center of government

Valéria Bankóová, Chief of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Section, Office of the Government, Slovakia

Table 9: Flanders - Local policy planning aligned with the SDGs: the momentum of local elections in Flanders

Heleen Voeten, Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities, VVSG, Belgium

Table 10: The Finnish view on Nordic VSR and the Nordic Toolbox - Localisation and transformative policies, case: the City of Turku

 Eveliina Kiema-Majanen, Senior Advisor, Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, Finland

                                           &

Noora Orvasto, Senior Advisor, Turku City Government, Finland

Table 11: Circular Economy

Cillian Lohan, Vice-president NAT Section, European Economic and Social Committee, Ireland

Table 1: International Resource Pannel – Dematerialization of the Economy

Hans Bruyninckx, International Resource Panel, Belgium

Table 2: Future Generations Commissioner for Wales

Marie Brousseau-Navarro, Deputy Commissioner and Director for Health, Office of the Future Generations Commissioner, United Kingdom 

Table 3: Spillover Effects and Transformative Policies

Bernhard Zlanabitnig, Vice President, European Environmental Bureau, Austria

                                                     &

 Alexandra Gerasimcikova, Head of Policy and Advocacy, Counter Balance, Belgium

Table 4: EU Green and Social Deal Based on the Wellbeing-Economy

Maria Nikolopoulou, Vice President of the NAT Section, European Economic and Social Committee, Spain

Table 5: Sustainable Food Systems

Andreas Thurner, Member of European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and Head of the EU and International Relations Unit of the Austrian Chamber of Agriculture, Austria

Table 6: Transformative Education for Sustainable Development

Erika Somlyay, Policy and Project Officer, Lifelong Learning Platform, Belgium

Table 7: European Business Roadmap for Just Transition

Florian Schmalz, Senior Policy Advisor for Sustainability, Eurochambres, Belgium

Table 8: Energy Transition

Adel El Gammal, Secretary General of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), Belgium

Table 9: Transformational Tools for Civil Society Participation

Violeta Jelić,EESC Member and General Secretary of the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts, Belgium

Table 10: Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships as a Lever to Achieve the SDGs

Meritxell Rota Claret, Advisory Council for Sustainable Development of Catalonia, Spain

Table 11: Just transformations: How cities integrate justice and sustainability

Matthew Bach, Head of Justice, Equity and Democracy, ICLEI-Europe, Germany