In 2021 the Swedish government decided to submit a Voluntary National Review to the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. This was the second report from the Swedish Government on implementing the 2030 Agenda. The report was produced in a broad consultation process based on contributions from many stakeholders in Swedish society. Sweden Local2030 Hub was one of the contributors to the process.

The Swedish Local2030 Hub gathers organizations in Sweden working to promote the local implementation of the SDGs. The Hub was asked to support the VNR process by participating in consultations with the Swedish government and organizing a knowledge exchange between Swedish and Finnish cities on the Voluntary Local Review process. Four Swedish cities developed VLRs in connection to the VNR process.

Outcomes from the process

The Swedish Local2030 Hub was highlighted as an excellent example in the Swedish review report (page 27); the hub also co-organized the Swedish side-event at the HLPF 2021 on the topic of Reinventing social welfare – Global examples to combat inequalities and exclusion at the local level.

Lessons learned

It was noted during the Swedish VNR process that local and regional stakeholders are critical to the success of the 2030 Agenda implementation. However, cities and municipalities in Sweden have expressed a lack of tools, methods, and support when working with the SDGs on local levels. Therefore, the Swedish 2030 Agenda coordinator established a working group for SDG localization in Sweden. The Swedish Local2030 Hub was a working group member, and one key outcome of this work was a digital platform of tools and methods (in Swedish) for how to work with the 2030 Agenda focusing on sub-national levels.