The year 2018 was important for the preparation of the implementation in France of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by
the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 with the goal of reconciling social and environmental objectives. After an initial announcement in 2017, the government began to draw up a roadmap for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in France, developed through a multi-stakeholder process. In May 2018, a pilot committee was set up chaired by the Secretaries of State Brune Poirson (Ecology) and Jean‐Baptiste Lemoyne (Foreign Affairs), of which IDDRI is a member, alongside representatives of all ministries and civil society.
the meeting of the Working Group on SDG
Implementation, September 2018
The Institute was closely involved in the preparation of the French roadmap. It worked with the Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition to coordinate a working group that develops implementation and monitoring measures. Between June and December 2018, IDDRI led six workshops to discuss specific tools aimed at increasing policy coherence and encouraging the mobilisation of ministries and stakeholders. At IDDRI’s initiative, this working group explored the importance of the SDGs in assessing draft laws and increasing the readability of the national budget and its contribution to sustainable development. The Institute contributed to ensuring convergence between a range of different actors, including MPs, representatives of NGOs, government, companies and research, around proposals for specific measures.
IDDRI was involved in drafting the first version of the roadmap. The chapter on cross-cutting tools for SDG implementation develops avenues for action in the French context, which gained the interest of a large number of actors. IDDRI also contributed actively to proposals in the chapter on research stakeholders. The implementing procedures must now be assessed and considered in policy decisions. IDDRI was invited to present these measures to the two Secretaries of State in January 2019. The finalised French roadmap is expected for the first SDG Summit under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2019, where a first review, four years after the adoption of the SDGs, is to be made by all Heads of State and Government.
IDDRI also proposed specific avenues for SDG implementation through numerous other channels, via different publications and presentations in France, Europe and internationally (French Senate, European Parliament, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, UN Office for Sustainable Development). The Institute was part of the French delegation to the High-Level Political Forum in July 2018 and presented its study on “Integrating SDGs into national budgetary processes” during a high-level side event organised by the OECD.
At the global level as well as at IDDRI, the year 2019 will be the opportunity to take stock of the first four years of SDG implementation.
