The UN 2030 Agenda "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" calls for a general reflection on sustainable development, by focusing on new implications affecting the social and productive fabric and the territory. Sustainable development is a political, economic, social and cultural revolution that will not only imply the achievement of minimum or maximum environmental values by nation, region or city, but it will also change the concept of economics and finance, boost the growth of business and market development, draw up a new welfare paradigm and influence educational and cultural models of citizens and communities.
The Regional Development Program of Lombardy (2018-2023) made sustainability one of the five priorities of the actions to be carried out by the Regional Government, as a "distinctive feature of the administrative activity and an opportunity to improve the quality of life of the people living in Lombardy. This should be achieved by meeting the needs of productive growth and by involving all local stakeholders: from businesses, to citizens, from schools to public administrations”.
The national regulatory framework has adopted the principle of sustainable development and by means of the partnership agreement signed with the Italian Ministry of the Environment, Lombardy Region undertakes to draw up the Regional Strategy for Sustainable Development.
The Regional Development Program also proposes the ratification of a "Lombardy Agreement among all concerned public and private stakeholders; this agreement will stand for the regional mutual commitment” thus, defining the priorities of the regional intervention.
On July 22nd 2019 the Regional Government approved the “Agreement for sustainable development in Lombardy”, having involved in a path of confrontation and dialogue the most representative bodies in Lombardy.
This Agreement promotes the adoption of the principle of sustainable development – in both public and private decision-making processes - in order to make Lombardy one of the leading region in Europe in terms of sustainable policies, biodiversity and ecosystem services conservation, circular economy, energy transition towards the development of renewable sources and decarbonisation, thus, encouraging a coherent and integrated relationship between the economic, social and environmental dimensions.
The Agreement was signed in September the 18th 2019 by the President of the Lombardy region and 54 representatives of main institutions, associations and universities in Lombardy. In the months following the first subscription, other local companies and citizens' associations joined. Subsequent accessions are welcome with the aim to extend and enforce partnerships for sustainable development to the whole region.
The Region provides for:
The subscribers commit to:
Each subscriber defines, independently and according to its own organisation and purpose, its own commitments schedule, of which it is fully responsible. Moreover, subscribers are requested to provide information about the progress in implementing the program at the Annual Sustainable Development Forum and to review and update the program, at least once a year. The collection of these commitment schedules and their monitoring will give important information about the implementation of the SDGs in Lombardy region.
The “Agreement for sustainable development in Lombardy” is also reported as an “SDG acceleration action” ( https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/partnership/?p=33696 ) at the United Nations Department on Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) platform. Since the Agreement is an Acceleration Action, Lombardy is committed to provide once per year information about the progress of its implementation at the UN.
For more information: https://www.openinnovation.regione.lombardia.it/it/lombardia-ricerca/strategia-sviluppo-sostenibile/protocollo-lombardo-per-lo-sviluppo-sostenibile
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