1 / 18

Sustainable Development Policies in the European states Gábor Bartus Ph.D.

European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils. Sustainable Development Policies in the European states Gábor Bartus Ph.D. Secretary General, National Council for Sustainable Development (Hungary) Co-chair, Working Group for Sustainable Development, EEAC

elise
Download Presentation

Sustainable Development Policies in the European states Gábor Bartus Ph.D.

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils Sustainable Development Policiesin the European states Gábor Bartus Ph.D. Secretary General, National Council for Sustainable Development (Hungary) Co-chair, Working Group for Sustainable Development, EEAC Incheon, 10 April 2014 National Council for Sustainable Development, Hungary

  2. Focus on… • 1. Some thoughts on the difficulties of sustainability transition • 2a. SD decision-making characteristicsin the European countries • 2b. Cross-cutting effects of developments • 2c. The role of multi-stakeholder processes • 2d. Monitoring and reporting • 3. Examples – country characteristics from Europe

  3. Constraints in SD policies(Source: ESDN - European SD Network) Weak political commitment: more words than action Periodical financial and budget crises Lack of champions - There is no single example where the whole SD transition was a big success Difficult to translate into political practice and hard to understand for non-experts Focus on win-win situations is false: there are trade-offs and losers

  4. The main barriers of operationalization(Price – Durham – Chan, 2010,UK Government Economic Service Review)

  5. less stable less stable, less resilient stability stability more stable more stable, more resilient time time The problem of SD transitionThe timeframe of transition is longer than one or two political cycleThe current government has to cover the cost of transition, but the benefits will appear in the next political cycle or later transition peak current situation sustainable society

  6. How to solve… External control mechanisms:New institutions (new types of checks and balancies) constitutional rules independent bodies (not under control of the government) 2. Internal control mechanisms: Enhance knowledge and commitment of citizens (voters) education NGO’s multi-stakeholder dialogue

  7. SD decision-making characteristics in the European countriesOne tool for the integration and cross-cutting: SD StrategyDiversity of National SD Strategies varies by name – „strategy”, „framework strategy”, federal plan”, „government vision”, „sustainability agenda”, etc. varies by length of strategies - from 7 to 252 pages varies by type – not a BAU method in SLO, NED and GBR varies by number of revisions – from 0 to 3 (e.g. Germany has a most sophisticated process to periodical review) varies by institutional anchoring – ministry for environment (general), office or chancellory of prime minister (Estonia, Germany), shared responsibility (Austria, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia)

  8. SD decision-making characteristics in the European countriesPurpose of National SD Strategies to assess the current situation, to mobilize and focus a society’s efforts to achieve SD, to provide a forum for societal articulation of a vision of a sustainable future, to create a framework for processesses of negotiation, mediation and capacity building (participation), to build upon and harmonize the various sectoral policies

  9. SD decision-making characteristics in the European countriesKey characteristics of national SD strategies integration of SD dimensions: economy, environment, human and social aspects multi-stakeholder participation, effective partnership, transparency and accountability capacity development and an enabling environment, building on existing knowledge and processes focus on priorities, outcomes and coherent means of implementation linkage with budget and investment processes continuous monitoring and evaluation

  10. Mechanisms of vertical integration (1) Three main mechanisms: Consultation Cooperation and coordination mechanisms Awarness raising and information exchange (2) Institutionalisation some of these mechanisms through councils, commissions, or other bodies (3) Vertical integration formalisation within legal acts

  11. Mechanisms of horizontal integration (1) Inter-ministerial bodies at the political level (Germany, Hungary) (2) Inter-ministerial bodies at the administrative level (Finland, France, Luxembourg) (3) Hybrid regimes - stakeholders participation processes (e.g. Czech Republic) SD Councils (in many MS) formal and informal European level consultations: EEAC, ESDN

  12. Evaluation and review Qualitative evaluations and reviews: 1. Internal reviews / progress reports(many EU countries) 2. External reviews (e.g. Finland – 2009) 3. Peer reviews (e.g. Germany – 2009, 2013)

  13. Indicators and monitoring From 15 (France) to 155 indicators (Hungary) National statistical offices as a responsible institutions Few, key indicators: for communication purpose, enhancing political commitment and leadership Detailed indicator set: for policy planning, decision-making

  14. German SD institutions SD Strategy: Since 2002 (Johannesburg) Monitoring 2 y, review 4 y High level political commitment Impact Assessment (connected to the legislative process) State Secretaries Council Parlamentary Commitee National SD Council 11 States have SDS

  15. Italian SDS NSDS since 2002 – mainly environmental goals 2007: national review Inter-Ministerial Comittee 2012: National Green Economy Agenda (ongoing work) – 8 targets Multi-Stakeholder Platform for Green Economy Sustainability Criteria, Environmental Footprinting

  16. SDS of Slovenia Transition to a low-carbon society 3 priorities – 5 headline target – 7 flagship iniciatives SDS since 2005; Plan B for Slovenia 2007-2012 Cross sectorial approach In 2012 because of the financial crisesthe Government cancelled inter-governmental institutions(e.g. SD Council)

  17. SD policies in Hungary New constitutional rules since 2012 (SD, right for healthy environment, rights of future generations) Constitutional court Ombudsman for future generation National SD Council (multi-stakeholder dialogue) SD strategy with 2 year monitoring and 4 year revision Vertical SD strategy – the role of local governments, industry, NGO’s and individuals Horizontal SD strategy – human, social, economical and environmental assets management SD in education, media and social media

  18. Summary Political leadership is crucial Wide societal commitment is also important (Not only the Government is the actor, enterprises, civil organisations and households are players too) Policy integraton, participation and reflexivity are immanent features of an NSDS process Institutional anchoring Inter-ministerial cooperation and the steering capacity Monitoring and evaluation Stakeholder participation Effective implementation

More Related