In November 2015, the Sub-Committee for Sustainable Development was established within the lower house of the Romanian Parliament. On April 2016, both houses of the Romanian Parliament issued a joint statement supporting the 2030 Agenda, highlighting the need for Sustainable Development to be at the core of Public Policy. Two handbooks that are geared towards MP’s on the parliamentarian dimension of the 2030 Agenda were translated into Romanian to include the SDGs in the legislative process, and every committee in Parliament will analyse the SDGs and include them in their legislative projects.

In 2017, the Government of Romania established a Department of Sustainable Development (DSD) within the Prime Minister’s Office. DSD is tasked with coordinating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda at the national level, centralizing and integrating, monitoring data concerning sustainable development, and collaborating with public institutions.

The first task of DSD was to revise the National Sustainable Development Strategy of Romania 2008-2020-2030. The new strategy, adopted in 2018, proposes a new institutional framework to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Romania, to ensure the policy coherence and to encourage the multi-stakeholder engagement and civil society involvement. The following structures have been created:

• At the level of the Romanian Government, the Interdepartmental Committee on Sustainable Development (ICSD) is one of the key institutions for policy coherence and comprises ministers headed by the Prime Minister. ICSD was established by Governmental Decision 272/2019.
• At the level of central public authorities, the Sustainable Development Hubs are being set up with experts in the field of activity specific to their institution. They also act as liaisons between their institutions, DSD and National Institute of Statistics.
• At the level of academia, scientific community and civil society, and the tracking of the effects of policies in the field of SD, the Consultative Council on Sustainable Development (CCSD) is being set up. The work of the 34th members of the Council will also sustain the efforts to deliver soon a National Action Plan. CCSD was established by Governmental Decision 114/2020.
• At the level of civil society, the Coalition for Sustainable Development (CSD) is being set up by representatives of young people, non-governmental organisations, the private sector, local authorities, unions, employers’ associations, R&D institutions, the academic community, mass media, the religious denominations, farmers, the elderly and families. CSD seeks to act as an NGO which advocates for the national SDGs.

Another important stakeholder in implementing the 2030 Agenda in Romania is the National Institute of Statistics (NIS). NIS was of important help during the Romania’s Strategy drafting in assessing Romania’s current situation. Once a new set of SDG indicators, for the new strategy, will be agreed upon, NIS will have the responsibility to quantify the indicators that monitor the implementation of Romania’s new SD strategy.

DSD is receiving assistance from OECD within the project “Linking policy planning and budgeting to support the implementation of the SDGs in Romania”, financed by the Romanian Government. The project aims to ensure that effective arrangements are in place to help implement Romania’s 2030 Strategy and thus the 2030 Agenda, and to support transparency on monitoring and reporting of SDG-related public spending.

International Efforts on Implementing 2030 Agenda for SD

Romania is fully committed to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development and is determined to support other countries in achieving the SDGs. Romania has presented the first Voluntary National Review (VNR) at the High Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development from New York, in July 2018, under the coordination of the Ministry for Environment and Climate Change. Romania has assumed the necessary development policies with real impact on advancing the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The VNR process has demonstrated the need for national coordination of the 2030 Agenda implementation in a systemic approach to the SDGs.

During the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council, in the first semester of 2019, the head of DSD leaded the EU Council preparatory body - working party group for implementing 2030 Agenda (GL2030). DSD, as the representative of Romania, coordinated the elaboration and obtained the consensus for the EU Council Conclusions "Towards an ever more sustainable Union by 2030", adopted on April 9, 2019. The document contains 27 articles reaffirming the European Union's commitment to support the 2030 Agenda and outlines a framework through which it can be implemented, reiterating Member States' call for a comprehensive implementation strategy at EU level. During the same period GL 2030 adopted the Issue Paper on monitoring the implementation of the 2030 Agenda globally and reviewing the format and organizational aspects of the UN High Level Policy Forum on Sustainable Development, which served as a starting point for the New York negotiations on HLPF reform.  Also during the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council, DSD together with the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in partnership with UNECE, organized on April 16, 2019 in Bucharest, a high-level inter-ministerial conference 2030 Agenda- Partnership for Sustainable Development with participation of representatives of 40 countries from the EU, Eastern Partnership, Central Asia and Western Balkans, representing international institutions and organizations, civil society and business community. The conference was an opportunity to share best practices and experiences gained in the process of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The Bucharest Declaration on Fostering Partnerships for Sustainable Development strengthened the participants commitment to continue to further enhance their approaches to achieve the Goals by 2030 through accelerating national coordination and by building more robust partnerships in good faith and with the desire to ensure that both current and future generations can live in a sustainable world.   On July 16th, in the frame of HLPF 2019, the Romanian Government in collaboration, with the Government of Iceland and the OECD hosted a high level side event: ”Governance for the SDGs: Learning from country experiences and defining an agenda for the future”. The objective of the side event was to provide a focused discussion on the governance challenges and opportunities of implementing the SDGs as well as to explore partnerships to support countries address the governance issues.  

On 25 September 2019, at the SDGs Summit in New York, the Governments of Romania and Colombia, in collaboration with the OECD and UNDP has launched The Global Hub on the Governance for the SDGs in a High-level side event. The Global Hub is a joint OECD-UNDP initiative which aims to strengthen the capacity of governments worldwide to implement the SDGs. The Hub offers a global partnership where countries can collaborate on the governance challenges posed by the SDGs and seek targeted policy advice and implementation support that is tailored to their priorities and context.

The action plan for the implementation of the strategy was finalized in 2021 and approved in 2022  following a consultation process that consisted of eight rounds of workshops with stakeholders from all social segments. Its approach is adapted to the institutional context and to the Department's ability to act as an institutional catalyst.  The actions are mainly aimed at inter-institutional coordination so that line ministries and all institutions are actively involved in the implementation of the 2030 National Sustainable Development Strategy.

The main objective of the National Action Plan is to create by 2030 an effective, efficient, and transparent governance structure for sustainable development. The main challenges the action identifies are:

• elaboration of the national SDG budget reporting framework at the level of public administration, in order to make transparent the allocations and efficiency of the budgetary efforts for sustainable development, which will contribute to the incorporation of the concepts of sustainable development at the level of productive processes in the economy;
• building a cohesive society, based on the principle of "leaving no one behind", through sustainable education, public health, and social protection systems;
• the consolidation of the critical mass that will adopt the principles of sustainable development, by involving all stakeholders from the political environment, public administration, economic and business environment, from the social environment, and from every citizen, an essential condition in achieving the 2030 Strategy's Targets.

The central and local public authorities supports the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) by supplying data and information with a view to measuring the implementation of the SDGs. DSD is supporting the NIS in this endeavour by streamlining the process. At the level of central public authorities with competency in the field of SD, the Sustainable Development Hubs are being set up, with role of liaisons between their institutions (ministries) and DSD on the one hand, and the NIS, on the other.

In order to grow the administrative capacity of the public institutions, DSD will facilitate training courses for staff involved in the implementation of the Romania’s Strategy. In 2017 DSD promoted a new occupation “Experts in Sustainable Development.

At inter-institutional level, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinates the National Reform Program, in agreement with the European Semester, which establishes directions and projects of Romania in order to meet the SDGs.

The Interministerial Committee for integrating the environmental protection principles into the national policies and sectoral strategies (IC), founded in 2001 and updated in 2011, is in charge of coordinating the integration of the measures of environmental protection into sectoral policies and strategies at a national level and operates under the central public authority for environmental protection, pursuant to the Government Decision 741/2011. IC will continue to coordinate the environmental component of SD and has an important role in updating the National Plan of Action for Environmental Protection. Also, IC has responsibilities on climate change, renewable energy, sustainable transport, public health, social inclusion, education and so on.

Its activities are concentrated on providing inter-ministerial support and consultation in the environmental transposition and implementation process. The integration of environmental issues and objectives in other sector policies e.g. in industry and energy policies, in agricultural policy and in transport and infrastructure policies is still in its beginning and will be developed in the coming period. IC has representatives from all ministries and other relevant institutions.

The DSD elaborates and submits to the Government, on the basis of the proposals and the consultative opinion of the Interdepartmental Committee for Sustainable Development, an annual report which is presented to the Romanian Parliament on the implementation of the Strategy;

The DSD has the responsibility to submit periodic reports to the EU on the progress made by Romania in terms of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for SD as well as the country’s active participation in the new European and global consensus on development.

In order to ensure efficiency and transparency during implementation of the Romania’s Strategy, the DSD together with the other structures involved in the implementation and monitoring, will run communication, information, and awareness programmes involving all relevant institutions and citizens.

The DSD elaborates and submits to the Government, on the basis of the proposals and the consultative opinion of the Interdepartmental Committee for Sustainable Development, an annual report which is presented to the Romanian Parliament on the implementation of the Strategy;

The DSD has the responsibility to submit periodic reports to the EU on the progress made by Romania in terms of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for SD as well as the country’s active participation in the new European and global consensus on development.

In order to ensure efficiency and transparency during implementation of the Romania’s Strategy, the DSD together with the other structures involved in the implementation and monitoring, will run communication, information, and awareness programmes involving all relevant institutions and citizens.

The National Institute of Statistics (NIS), in cooperation with DSD, updates the national set of indicators based on the new priority goals established in the Strategy and taking into account the set of indicators established at UN and EU level for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for SD, in order to measure the SDGs implementation progress at the national level.

Current national SD indicators from NIS database pursuing the objectives settled by the National Strategy for Sustainable Development - Horizon 2013 - 2020 - 2030 are developed based on the information available to the National Institute of Statistics, Ministry of Environment and institutions subordinated or its coordination, according to the EU methodologies.

The current database of SD indicators for Romania (IDDR) includes 103 indicators with data series available in the national statistical system since 2000.

DSD is implementing a 3-year project ”Sustainable Romania”, funded by European Funds. The project supports the up-dating of an existing multidisciplinary statistical data aggregator. This open data platform, also called ”Sustainable Romania”, will be part of the mechanism for monitoring and reporting the implementation of the national SDGs, designed as a working tool for rigorous and objective substantiation of decision-making processes and for strategic documents within the central and local administration. It will provide for the decision makers information on national SD statistical indicators and European SD indicators, as well as subjective indicators, resulting from measuring the population perception on SDGs.

The Advisory Council for Sustainable Development validated a new set of national sustainable development indicators comprising 243 unique indicators, of which 99 are primary and 192 are additional. To ensure the appropriate framework for monitoring the progress in achieving the 2030 targets, a formal document of collaboration between the Department for Sustainable Development with the National Institute of Statistics and the ministries (through the nuclei for Sustainable Development), respectively an inter-institutional collaboration agreement, is in preparation.

Romania has built and implemented an open access online database that integrates statistics specific to sustainable development, both objective and subjective, in order to effectively understand and track the progress of the implementation  for the 17 sustainable  development goals on our way to a sustainable  future. For now the site is in Romanian, but it is intuitive and can be browsed to vizualize how data are represented.

The Romania’s Sustainable Development Strategy 2030, having taken into account the particularities of Romania and in light of the consultations performed and the feedback received from participants in the numerous public debates held with representatives from all segments of society, establishes the national priorities with respect to SD. During the Strategy elaboration process, in 2018, the DSD organized extensive debates on the topic of 2030 Agenda for SD and the role of Romania in supporting it:

• regional seminars in all the 8 development regions,
• national conference with the academic community,
• national debate with representatives of civil society,
• meeting with representatives of ministries,
• meeting with the Subcommittee for Sustainable Development (Parliament),
• debate with the national R&D institutes,
• national debate with representatives of the economic environment and employers,
• national debate with trade union leaders.

Young people are one of the most important stakeholders and component in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. In the process of the Strategy elaboration, a partnership was made between the DSD and UN Youth Romania and FOND Romania. Representatives of UN Youth Romania were part of the Strategy working group. Meetings were organized with high school students, students and masters, youth associations to popularize and co-interest in the implementation of the SDGs.

The Strategy is based on reports drawn up by government ministries and other state institutions, studies conducted under the auspices of the Romanian Academy, and other scientific and academic bodies. This strategy used the information made available by European institutions and the UN as well as suggestions and recommendations resulting from public consultations with the business community, universities, national research and development institutions, NGOs, and representatives of civil society. This strategy also took into consideration the contributions of individual experts.

In the spirit of the 2030 Agenda, in order to implement the Strategy in an efficient manner, it is necessary to enjoy the support and involvement of all actors. Young people, non-governmental organisations, the private sector, local authorities, unions, employers’ associations, research, development and innovation institutions, the academic community, mass media, the religious denominations, farmers, the elderly and families has been all involved, and will continue to be involved in activities relating to the implementation of the Strategy. In order to ensure a constant dialogue, the establishment of a Coalition for Sustainable Development, made up of representatives of civil society, is facilitated by the DSD.

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