European Cities and Citizens delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals

The event is organized jointly by the Heinrich Böll Foundation EU Office and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability in collaboration with the European Economic and Social Committee's (EESC) Sustainable Development Observatory and will take place in the broader framework of the European Sustainable Development Week.
 
 What do the universal Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) mean for European cities and how can citizens and grassroots initiatives help implement them? A new Local Agenda 21? Despite the stand-alone goal on sustainable cities (SDG11), urban experts agree on the importance of all the 17 SDGs for cities. Initiatives like the recently-adopted Basque Declaration suggest that cities and citizens have to engage on the ground if the future is to be sustainable.

Following an EU policy overview, discussions will focus on concrete examples of transformative and replicable actions coming from sub-national governments and civil society organisations.

The event is part of the 20th Breakfast at Sustainability’s and will take place on Thursday 2 June 2016 at the EESC in Brussels. The interactive panel will be followed by a sustainable networking lunch.
 
Place:        European Economic and Social Committee, Rue Belliard 99, 1000 Brussels, Room: JDE 62

Date:        Thursday 2 June 2016 (9:30 am – 12:30 followed by a lunch)

Speakers:

•    Tunç SOYER, Deputy president CittàSlow, Mayor of City of Seferihisar, Turkey
•    Lina FURCH, City of Bonn, Deputy Head, Department of International Affairs & Global Sustainability, Germany
•    Ola NORD, City of Malmö, Head of Malmö EU office, Sweden
•    Claude LENGLET, "Third Industrial Revolution", Hauts-de-France Region (former Nord-Pas de Calais and Picardie)
•    Gil PENHA-LOPES, European Network for Community-Led Initiatives on Climate Change & Sustainability (ECOLISE)
•    Leida RIJNHOUT, Director Global Policies and Sustainability at European Environmental Bureau (EEB)
•    Marialuisa TAMBORRA, Deputy Head of Unit, DG Research and Innovation – Strategy, European Commission
•    MEP Yannick JADOT, Member of the European Parliament (tbc)
•    Ruud SCHUTHOF, Deputy Regional Director, ICLEI– Local Governments for Sustainability
•    Klaus LINSENMEIER, Heinrich Böll Foundation European Union, Office Director

Moderator: Peter Defranceschi & Ania Rok – ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability

Please register here for this event by 30 May 2016. For more information on the agenda and the speakers, please consult our programme.