Since 2007, the ESDN has been organizing thematic Workshops in order to facilitate informal exchange of standpoints and experiences between ESDN Members. This section of the website provides a one-stop-shop documentation of all ESDN Workshops so far. Please click on one of the Workshops for more details. Some photo albums can also be found below.
This year, the ESDN hosted 4 different workshops!
Workshops that have already taken place
More information can be found below and will be updated regularly, so please check back often!
Day 1 of the ESDN Youth Workshop 2024 was a very intense day filled with keynote discussions and interactive group work on foresight and future scenarios.
Youth Network Members were able to hear from expert Sylvia Veenhoff from the German Environment Agency who provid a background and backdrop for the workshop on strategic foresight and how it is used in your work. In addition, we learned how foresight can help in supporting the transition to sustainability by understanding the structure and dynamics of societal systems, developing visions and goals, recognizing new opportunities and risks at an early stage, as well as supporting future-robust and resilient policy and strategy development.
Youth Network Membes also heard from keynote speaker Miranda Boettcher, from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, who presented on navigating multilevel challenges in Europe’s climate policy futures. We learned that climate policy is a multifaceted field characterized by the interplay between domestic, regional, and international dynamics. Thinking through the possible future complexities of EU climate policy requires an approach that considers these interconnections. Foresight can help anticipate of interactions between a range of political, economic, technological, and social factors that will play a role in achieving climate
neutrality in Europe.
After our keynote presentations, we asked our Youth Network Members to imagine themselves in four different scenarios, in which the EU achieved climate neutrality by 2050 and asked them how they imagined life and the wellbeing of their generation would look like in 2050 based on these different scenarios thought out by the Joint Research Center.
We also had an hour-long visit from State Secretary Christiane Rohleder from the Ministry of the Environment, where the Youth Members were able to ask questions about how they could get involved more in government processes and what governments need from them to be most effective.
Day 2 of the Workshop was also a very long and intense day of exchange and discussions that built upon the results of the previous day, where the Youth Members worked on crafting a desirable future.
Our Youth Members reevaluated their main ideas and discussed them further. With the help of our moderator Tanja Busse, we were able to distill 4 main issues on where youth would like to see stronger action taken. The issues centered around trust and strong institutions, power, financing and redistribution, and changing mindsets around sustainable development.
The ESDN has tasked the Youth to come up with a way to formulate a way in which they can put their ideas, desires, and demands into writing for their collective and sustainable future.
You can find the Workshop Agenda below along with a Workshop Report written by our Youth Members who participated. Based on this Report, the ESDN Youth Members will be writing 4 ESDN Policy Notes that cover the main discussion toipcs Youth developed on Workshop Day 2, namely:
The Policy Notes will be published over the next couple of weeks. A further Report will be added here over the next couple of days, so make sure to check back for more content about the Workshop!
What is Strategic Foresight? Why Scenarios?
Sylvia Veenhoff, German Environment Agency, Germany
Navigating multi-level challenges in Europa’s climate policy futures
Dr. Miranda Böttcher, Research Cluster Climate Policy, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Germany
JRC Climate Neutrality Scenarios
Yannick Dujardin, Joint Research Centre (JRC), EU Policy Lab: Foresight, Design and Behavioural Insights, European Commission, Belgium
The 1st ESDN VNR Peer Review Workshop took place on 05 June in Brussels, Belgium at the Permanent Representation of Austria to the European Union. It was organized in cooperation with Belgian Interministerial Conference on Sustainable Development, the Austrian Federal Chancellery, and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. Austria, Belgium, and Switzerland were the focus countries for the VNR Peer Review, as Austria and Switzerland both have valuable experiences in conducting peer reviews.
This event was offered exclusively to the 9 ESDN Regular Member countries that support the work of the ESDN, offering them targeted information and exchange on VNR peer review processes with their peers. The Workshop looked at the VNRs as sincere government evaluation tools, VNR methodologies and peer review, as well as how to best receive contributions from civil society.
More information on the Workshop, including the agenda and presentations, can be found below.
An ESDN Policy Note will be made available in the coming weeks and will be uploaded here
Sabine Schneeberger, ESDN Advisory Board Member, Federal Chancellery, Austria
Cédric van de Walle, ESDN Advisory Board Member, Federal Institute for Sustainable Development, Member of the Belgian Interministerial Conference on Sustainable Development (IMCSD), Belgium
Henrike Beckmann, Deputy Delegate of the Federal Council for the 2030 Agenda, Federal Department for International Affairs, Switzerland
Klaus Steiner, Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, Austria
Valentine van Gameren, Ministry of Wallonia - Sustainable Development unit, Secretariat of the Belgian Interministerial Conference on Sustainable Development (IMCSD), Belgium
Henrike Beckmann, Deputy Delegate of the Federal Council for the 2030 Agenda, Federal Department for International Affairs, Switzerland
Anna Muner-Bretter, Federal Chancellery, Austria
Ilse Dries, Ministry of Flanders - Chancellery and Foreign Affairs, Belgium
Henrike Beckmann, Deputy Delegate of the Federal Council for the 2030 Agenda, Federal Department for International Affairs, Switzerland
The ESDN organized its first ever Young Civil Servant Workshop, which took place in Vienna on the 15th and 16th of April 2024 and focused on Transformative Policies, especially regarding the aspect of Intergenerational Equity.
The Sustainable Development Goals envisage a planet inhabitable not only for the present, but also for the future and are therefore inherently linked to the wellbeing of different generations. The workshop in Vienna will look at the area of transformative policies from an intergenerational equity perspective. What are the main challenges in this regard? How can we use intergenerational equity as a resource in policymaking? To what extent are the SDGs providing and supporting intergenerational equity and (how) can this be elevated in a post-2030 policy framework? What can young civil servants do to support this process? These questions will guide us through an interesting and exciting 1.5 days with inputs from experts, as well as a lot of time to exchange and develop ideas together.
The Workshop brought together around 25 young civil servants from around Europe, aged 35 or younger, to learn and discuss on the topic of intergenerational equity.
The Workshop agenda, Discussion Paper, and presentations can be found below.
The Workshop Policy Note will be available in a couple of weeks and can be found here
Reflections from over 20 years of Sustainable Development Policymaking
Elisabeth Freytag-Rigler, ESDN Vice President, Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Austria
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Sabine Schneeberger, ESDN Advisory Board Member, Federal Chancellery, Austria
Intergenerational Justice in View of Climate Change
Helga Kromp-Kolb, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Austria
Table 1: Pia Nagl, ESDN Advisory Board Member, Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Austria
Table 2: Serafin Groebner, ESDN Advisory Board Member, Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Austria
Table 3: Marco Schimpl, Federal Ministry of Labour and Economy, Austria
Philipp Pattberg, VU Amsterdam, Amsterdam Sustainability Institute, Netherlands
Climate and Environmental Rights for Future Generations
Katharina Skorpik, UNICEF Austria, Austria
Meaningful Participation: How to involve youth in decision and policymaking
Saana Ylikruuvi, ESDN Youth Network Member, Finland
Table 1: Austria - Children and Youth Impact Assessment
Andreas Schneider, Federal Chancellery, Austria
Table 2: Finland - The Finnish Agenda 2030 Youth Group
Emma Harju, Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland
Table 3: Netherlands - Intergenerational Test
Sydney van der Post, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands
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Mare de Wit, Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Netherlands
The 22nd ESDN Workshop took place on 26-27 March 2024 in Budva, Montenegro! The topic was “Governance Transformations for More Effective SDG Implementation”. The Workshop was organized in cooperation with the Government of Montenegro and UNDP Montenegro.
Day 1 of the Workshop began on the 26th of March and focused on what some Western Balkan countries have been doing regarding implementing the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus on institutional mechanisms and frameworks. This was complemented by keynote presentations of good practices from around Europe on governance mechanisms and experiences in implementation. In typical ESDN Workshop fashion, participants were also able to work in interactive groups to further exchange on the keynote presentations, their own experiences with implementation, and further learn from, and discuss with, one another.
Day 2 of the Workshop began on the 27th of March and focused on governing transformations towards sustainability, as well as focused on deriving answers to the question of what is needed to be fit for the future. The Workshop culminated in a final interactive exchange that focused on participants developing a toolbox for effective SDG governance for the future.
More information about the Workshop can be found below, including the agenda, the Discussion Paper, the keynote presentations.
The ESDN Policy Note, documenting the outcomes of the Workshop, can be found here.
Montenegro (in Montenegrin)
Aneta Kankaras, Head of the Office for Sustainable Development in the Secretariat General, Montenegro
Nemanja Kovacevic, Assistant Minister, Ministry for European Integration and International Cooperation, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Stojne Danilova Ivanoski, Prime Minister’s Office, Republic of North Macedonia
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Elena Ivanovska, Prime Minister’s Office, Republic of North Macedonia
Building Inclusive Stakeholder Partnerships
Jeannette Muller, ESDN Advisory Board Member, Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity, Luxembourg (virtual)
Financing for the SDGs
Ivana Gardasevic, Project Manager for Public Finance for Development and Integrated Local Development, UNDPMontenegro, Montenegro
Government Mechanisms for Strategic Promotion of the Circular Economy
Heikki Sorasahi, Ministry of the Environment, Finland (virtual)
Daniel Dubas, ESDN Advisory Board Member, Federal Office for Spatial Development ARE, Switzerland
Romanian Code of Sustainability
Gabriela Ciulacu Bițan, Sustainability Code Expert, Prime Minister’s Office – Department of Sustainable Development, Romania
Business Transformations Towards Sustainability from a Startup Perspective
Jasna Pejović, CEO Flourish App, Montenegro
Building Sustainable Development Governance Hubs
Krista Kampus, Tallinn City Strategic Management Office, Estonia (virtual)
Innovation and Transformations
Nina Drakulić, Founder of NGO Montenegro Robotics, Montenegro Makers (Promotion of STEM) and Montenegro Space Research, Montenegro
A look at the history of the ESDN reveals that ESDN Workshops have played a prominent role in facilitating networking between European SD practitioners and policy advisors. This section of the website provides a one-stop-shop documentation of all ESDN Workshops so far. Please click on one of the Workshops for more details:
