High-Level Policy Summit on “Europe’s Response to Sustainability Challenges – Delivering the 2030 Agenda”

Tomorrow, the European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC) together with the European Commission will host a High Level Policy Summit on “Europe’s Response to Sustainability Challenges – Delivering the 2030 Agenda”. Under the patronage of First Vice-President Timmermans and Vice-President Katainen and with the presence of UN SDG AmbassadorHer Majesty Queen Mathilde of Belgium, the Summit will gather European and international stakeholders to discuss how to take decisive next steps for a sustainable European future. The Summit is a follow-up to the European Commission’s Communication on the Sustainable Development Goals, presented on 22 November, which laid out how EU policies and the Commission’s 10 political priorities contribute to implementing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In the Communication the Commission committed to using all the instruments at its disposal, including its better regulation tools to ensure that existing and new policies take into account the three pillars of sustainable development: social, environmental and economic. The Commission further committed to provide regular reporting of the EU’s progress on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda as of 2017, to launch reflection work on developing a longer term vision with a post-2020 perspective and to organise a multi-stakeholder Platform to work in partnership with civil society. Today’s Summit provides the first platform for this reflection.