Launch of the report “Baltic 2030 Bumps on the Road: How the Baltic Sea States are performing on the SDGs”

On June 14th, the CBSS Baltic 2030 unit hosted a breakfast seminar on the newly published “Baltic 2030 Bumps on the Road: How the Baltic Sea States are performing on the SDGs” report. Participants included embassy representatives (both from our member states and observer states) as well as multiple stakeholders such as the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket), Nordregio and Global Utmaning.

“Baltic 2030: Bumps on the Road”, a report developed by independent consultants as a support for the discussions of the CBSS Expert Group on Sustainable Development (EGSD), explores the most pressing challenges for the Baltic Sea Region using the framework of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “Baltic 2030: Bumps on the Road” provides a macro-regional overview on all 17 goals and analyses in-depth five critical SDGs on the basis of existing comparable indicators provided by the “SDGs Index Dashboards” developed by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and Bertelsmann Stiftung. Besides the analysis of the most pressing challenges, the report also suggests seven avenues for action, where transnational collaboration can support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in the Baltic Sea Region countries, as well as of the Baltic 2030 Action Plan which was endorsed by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs through the Reykjavík Declaration on the 17^th June 2017.

The breakfast seminar offered the opportunity to learn more about the report, and to present the participants with insight on how together we can support the work of our countries in achieving the SDGs through macro-regional cooperation. Moderated by Mr Anthony Jay, CBSS Head of Media and Communication, the seminar began with a presentation by Head of the Baltic 2030 Unit Ms Krista Kampus. Ms Kampus provided some updated information regarding the work of the CBSS in the field of sustainable development and the implementation of Agenda 2030. One of the authors of the report, Mr Sven Beyersdorff,  continued with an introduction of the results of the analysis as well as the avenues for action. This was also the opportunity to ask the co-author questions about the report, the key findings, etc.

More photos can be found here.