Conferences are the ESDN's flagship event. They take place each year on topical issues facing Europe when it comes to sustainable development. Since 2015 and the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the ESDN has focused on this as a driving force behind its work in fostering exchange, peer learning, trust, and so much more to further the goal of successful implementation and fulfilment of the SDGs.
A photo gallery of ESDN Conferences from the past few years can also be found below, as well as an archive of all Confereces over the ESDN's long history dealing with sustainable development issues.
ESDN Conference 2024 took place in Brussels, Belgium on 05 - 06 June 2024!
The ESDN Conference 2024 took place in Brussels, Belgium on 05 - 06 June 2024! The title of this year’s Conference is “Upgrading Europe: Building Transformative Policies to Reach the Sustainable Development Goals”. The ESDN organized the Conference in cooperation with the Belgian Federal Institute for Sustainable Development and the European Economic and Social Committee. The Conference was an official event of Belgium’s EU Council Presidency.
As we find ourselves just over the halfway point to reaching the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, with only six more years left, the ESDN and co-organizers will focus this year’s Conference on transformative policies. The Global Sustainable Development Reports (2019 and 2023) have identified the entry points to transformational change. The purpose of this Conference was to learn more about transformations and how to bring them about, as well as learn from good practice cases from national governments, local governments, the business sector, academia, and science. The Conference offered ample opportunities for discussions, networking, and information exchanges with colleagues from all parts of Europe.
More information about the Conference, including the agenda, Discussion Paper, and presentations can be found below.
The ESDN Conference Policy Note will be available soon and can be found here.
AgendaDownload
Discussion PaperDownload
Conference Kickoff
Wednesday, 05 June 2024
ESDN Opening
Marguy Kohnen, Former ESDN Vice President, Luxembourg
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Elisabeth Freytag-Rigler, ESDN Vice President, Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Austria
Host Welcome
Dieter Vander Beke, ESDN Advisory Board Member, Director of the Federal Institute for Sustainable Development, Belgium
Ingredients for Making Sustainable Development Policies Transformative
Peter Schmidt, President of the Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Section (NAT) at the European Economic and Social Committee, Germany
Session 1: Setting the Stage on Necessary Transformations for Sustainable Development and the SDGs
Science to Policy - Pathways for Accelerating Transformations
Åsa Persson, Research Director and Deputy Director, Stockholm Environment Institute, Sweden (virtual)
SDGs for All: Developing Strategic Scenarios
Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Co-President Club of Rome and Project lead for Earth4All, Belgium
Session 2: Ingredients Needed to Sustainably Transform and Upgrade Europe
Thursday, 06 June
Future Forward: ESDN Youth Network Insights on Europe’s Key Issues
David Esatia, ESDN Youth Network Member, Georgia
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Elisabeth Hosszu, ESDN Youth Network Member, Belgium
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Lukáš Švaňa, ESDN Youth Network Member, Slovakia
Enhancing Governance for a more Resilient Europe
Patrizia Heidegger, Deputy Secretary General, Director for EU Governance, Sustainability and Global Policies, European Environmental Bureau, Belgium
Bringing Together all Sectors in Society to Cooperate on the SDGs for Integrated Policymaking
Judith Maas, Director SDG Nederland, Netherlands
Nordic Voluntary Subnational Review – The local level as a driver for transformational change
Åsa Hildestrand, Senior Project Manager for Nordic VSR, Nordregio, Sweden
Transformative Ideas - Ensuring a just share of progress for all
Kalina Arabadjieva, Senior Researcher, European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), Belgium
Sustainable Development Transformations in the Private Sector
Jan Noterdaeme, Senior Advisor & Co-Founder of CSR Europe, Belgium
Exchange Space 1 – Government Good Practices
Table 1: Belgium – Just Transition Process
Martine Vandervennet, Federal Institute for Sustainable Development, Belgium
Table 2: Germany – Addressing Transformation in the National Sustainable Development Strategy
Christina Fischer, ESDN Advisory Board Member, Federal Chancellery, Germany
Table 3: Italy – Localizing the SDGs through policy coherence for sustainable development
Andrea Innamorati, Senior Policy Advisor, Ministry for the Environment and Energy Security, Italy
Table 4: Latvia – Transformative Power of Culture in Sustainable Development
Baiba Murniece, Deputy Head of the Department of Culture Policy, Ministry of Culture, Latvia
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Māra Sīmane, State Chancellery - Cross Sectoral Coordination Department, Latvia
Table 5: Malta – Process of SDG budget alignment
Francine Pace Caruana, Director of Sustainable Development, Ministry for the Environment, Energy & Regeneration of the Grand Harbour, Malta
Table 6: Netherlands – National Sustainable Development Report – Linking the SDGs to 6 Major Transitions
Sandra Pellegrom, ESDN Advisory Board Member and National SDG Coordinator, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands
Table 7: Romania – Upskilling public sector staff as sustainable development experts towards more transformative policies
Iris Constantin, Counsellor, Prime Minister’s Office – Department of Sustainable Development, Romania
Table 8: Slovakia – Steering transformative policies for sustainable development from the center of government
Valéria Bankóová, Chief of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Section, Office of the Government, Slovakia
Heleen Voeten, Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities, VVSG, Belgium
Table 10: The Finnish view on Nordic VSR and the Nordic Toolbox - Localisation and transformative policies, case: the City of Turku
Eveliina Kiema-Majanen, Senior Advisor, Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, Finland
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Noora Orvasto, Senior Advisor, Turku City Government, Finland
Table 11: Circular Economy
Cillian Lohan, Vice-president NAT Section, European Economic and Social Committee, Ireland
Exchange Space 2 – Stakeholder Good Practices
Table 1: International Resource Pannel – Dematerialization of the Economy
Hans Bruyninckx, International Resource Panel, Belgium
Table 2: Future Generations Commissioner for Wales
Marie Brousseau-Navarro, Deputy Commissioner and Director for Health, Office of the Future Generations Commissioner, United Kingdom
Table 3: Spillover Effects and Transformative Policies
Bernhard Zlanabitnig, Vice President, European Environmental Bureau, Austria
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Alexandra Gerasimcikova, Head of Policy and Advocacy, Counter Balance, Belgium
Table 4: EU Green and Social Deal Based on the Wellbeing-Economy
Maria Nikolopoulou, Vice President of the NAT Section, European Economic and Social Committee, Spain
Table 5: Sustainable Food Systems
Andreas Thurner, Member of European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and Head of the EU and International Relations Unit of the Austrian Chamber of Agriculture, Austria
Table 6: Transformative Education for Sustainable Development
Erika Somlyay, Policy and Project Officer, Lifelong Learning Platform, Belgium
Table 7: European Business Roadmap for Just Transition
Florian Schmalz, Senior Policy Advisor for Sustainability, Eurochambres, Belgium
Adel El Gammal, Secretary General of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), Belgium
Table 9: Transformational Tools for Civil Society Participation
Violeta Jelić,EESC Member and General Secretary of the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts, Belgium
Table 10: Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships as a Lever to Achieve the SDGs
Meritxell Rota Claret, Advisory Council for Sustainable Development of Catalonia, Spain
Table 11: Just transformations: How cities integrate justice and sustainability
Matthew Bach, Head of Justice, Equity and Democracy, ICLEI-Europe, Germany
ESDN Conference 2024 Closing
ESDN 2024 – Next Steps
László Borbély, ESDN President, State Counsellor, and National SDG Coordinator, Prime Minister’s Office – Department of Sustainable Development, Romania
Reflections from the European Economic and Social Committee
Peter Schmidt, President of the Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Section (NAT) at the European Economic and Social Committee, Germany
Take Home Messages from the ESDN
Elisabeth Freytag-Rigler, ESDN Vice President, Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Austria
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Taru Savolainen, ESDN Vice President, Prime Minister’s Office, Finland
