BASIC INFORMATION
SwitzerlandTuesday, 18 August 2020
The 2030 Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) sets out the guidelines for the Federal Council’s (government) sustainability policy and establishes sustainable development as an important requirement for all federal policy areas. The Strategy has a timeframe of ten years. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provides the reference framework.
The strategy is first and foremost an instrument to coordinate between policy areas, and works, in particular, to make sustainable development a core component of the numerous federal sectoral activities. As a transversal strategy, it formulates guidelines for federal policy and sets goals for the period up to 2030, as well as directions for domestic and foreign policy strategic with corresponding political priorities.
The 2030 SDS sets out priorities in policy areas where there is a particular need for action and coordination in order to implement the 2030 Agenda at the federal level. The Federal Council has thus defined three priority themes: sustainable consumption and production; climate, energy and biodiversity; and equal opportunities and social cohesion.
The strategy also sets out how civil society, the private sector, the financial markets and the education, research and innovation sectors can act as drivers of sustainable development and describes the framework required for this to happen. Finally, it also defines how the Federal Administration can contribute by setting an example.
The Federal Council has also adopted the 2021‒2023 Action Plan on the 2030 SDS. This complements the Confederation's existing instruments with specific measures in areas where there are still gaps or where there is a need for greater cross-sectoral cooperation.
The 2030 SDS now also exists in English: Sustainable Development Strategy (admin.ch).
SDS covers all three dimensions of SD.
General information about SD in Switzerland: Sustainable development in Switzerland – A guide
Switzerland has commissioned an external evaluation of its SD strategy in 2019. The results of the evaluation have been published. (click here for the evaluation report in German with summaries in English, French and Italian).