Sustainable Development Action The Nordic Way

The 2030 Agenda, adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015, outlines an ambitious and universal plan of action for people, planet and prosperity as it seeks to strengthen universal peace and freedom. This report presents national and Nordic action on Agenda 2030 with the aim to inform and support the Nordic Council of Ministers in formulating a new Nordic Sustainable Development Programme. All Nordic countries are engaged and strongly committed to implementing Agenda 2030 and there is a broad societal interest in joint Nordic action. The existing Nordic Strategy for Sustainable Development and several other key initiatives within Nordic cooperation already contribute to the goals of Agenda 2030. A new Nordic Sustainable Development Programme can build upon a strong foundation and add further value to the national and international work done by the Nordic countries.

The 2030 Agenda, adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015, outlines an ambitious and universal plan of action for people, planet and prosperity as it seeks to strengthen universal peace and freedom. This report presents national and Nordic action on Agenda 2030 with the aim to inform and support the Nordic Council of Ministers in formulating a new Nordic Sustainable Development Programme. All Nordic countries are engaged and strongly committed to implementing Agenda 2030 and there is a broad societal interest in joint Nordic action. The existing Nordic Strategy for Sustainable Development and several other key initiatives within Nordic cooperation already contribute to the goals of Agenda 2030. A new Nordic Sustainable Development Programme can build upon a strong foundation and add further value to the national and international work done by the Nordic countries.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/nord2021-042/ How are the Nordic countries, and the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland working on the 2030 Agenda and the 17 SDGs? This review provides the answers, with an emphasis on the national political structures for implementing the 2030 Agenda, i.e. action plans with national and international prioritisations, along with follow-up work and areas for improvement. The aim of the review is to create a factually based overview of the Nordic countries’ work on the 2030 Agenda, where the relevant basic information can be found easily, with links to websites and other material, for each of the Nordic countries.

The Nordic countries rank high in international reports of nations' progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Along with other industrialised countries, however, the Nordic countries have been ranked poorly in their progress towards SDG 12, which concerns Sustainable Consumption and Production. This report looks closer at the Nordic countries' main challenges in achieving SDG12 and sets out recommendations for Nordic collaboration to tackle these.

This discussion paper titled “Bumps on the Road to 2030 - An overview of the common challenges for the Nordic countries in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” was prepared by the Danish think thank Sustainia, by commission from the Nordic Council of Ministers in April 2017. The task at hand was to analyze, based on existing international comparisons, which SDGs the Nordic countries need to work on the most, in order to achieve them by 2030.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/politiknord2021-737/ A Sustainable Arctic – the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Arctic Co-operation Programme 2022–2024 – is the ninth programme of its kind. The Nordic Council of Ministers has a vision of the Nordic Region being the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. By focusing on a green, competitive and socially sustainable Region, the Nordic countries will seek to show the way to a sustainable future. In the Arctic, they will work together to develop knowledge, build expertise about developments and identify opportunities for the region and its people.

A Good Life in a Sustainable Nordic Region – Nordic Strategy for Sustainable Development is the overriding and cross-sectoral frame-work for the work of the Nordic Council of Ministers. All work carried out within the Council of Ministers will incorporate a sustainability perspective. The Nordic Council of Ministers will help the Nordic countries successively continue to improve welfare and quality of life for present and future generations, by protecting and using the earth’s ability to sustain life in all its diversity. The strategy provides long-term guidelines as far as 2025 in the following focusareas: the Nordic welfare model, viable ecosystems, changing climate, sustainable use of the earth’s resources, and education, research and innovation. The sectoral ministerial councils within the Nordic Council of Ministers will supplement the strategy with concrete measures.

Public Procurement accounts for 6.5 trillion euros annually and plays a fundamental role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. All public services and functions depend on public procurement to be delivered. This report aims to draw attention to the “added value” that sustainable public procurement can contribute towards these goals, directly or indirectly, going beyond delivering core public sector objectives. The report establishes clear linkages between Sustainable Public Procurement and the SDG targets, and aims to validate those linkages with specific and real-life case studies from Nordic settings.