The Italian approach to localizing the SDGs is at the same time strategic and operational. Adopting interlinkages among the SDGs as a ground for shaping the National Strategy for Sustainable Development, SDG11 becomes the framework to deliver the whole 2030 Agenda to the ground.
By law, our National Strategy for Sustainable Development must be transposed and implemented at regional and metropolitan level. This requirement has been the springboard for defining, in time, a multilevel governance system now relying on Regional Strategies and Metropolitan Agendas for Sustainable Development covering almost all Italian territory. This implies a series of achievements:
- A national framework defining shared objectives, rules, enabling factors, governance mechanisms and monitoring requirements, based on a Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development Action Plan, operating at all levels and connecting central and local;
- 31 sustainable development territorial frameworks sharing a common language, vision and monitoring system, while addressing specific territorial needs and challenges;
- An incremental protagonism of local authorities in decentralized cooperation, incrementally integrated in their strategies, connecting the internal and external dimension of the 2030 Agenda;
- A multilevel integrated monitoring framework, sharing measures to assess the contribution of each territory to the achievement of national sustainable development objectives, while evaluating the quality of the process in place
- A governance ecosystem enabling collaborative and transversal interactions, building on national to local partnership agreements to boost horizontal cooperation and territorial processes;
The “Italian Voluntary National, Local and Youth Review 2026” mirrors this system and takes stock of progresses and challenges ahead. 14 VLRs are fully integrated with 15 local authorities presenting them, and this is only a part of the story. Our delegation this year includes 7 local authorities and their delegation. These authorities are among those that have presented the VLRs this year. We are very proud of this extensive participation and congratulate with the space that the HLPF and partners have allocated to local authorities, for them to be engaged.
Compared to the 2022 exercise, this VNR is now able to provide an overview of the commitments that all our territories are providing in implementing the 2030 Agenda and in making SDG11 a reality. Collectively, the central and local levels have focused on the enabling factors as well as on tracking the performance of such factors in achieving the SDGs. Focusing on process and governance, Italy has increased the preparedness of the overall system to accelerate action up to the 2030 and beyond.
Together with UN Habitat Italy launched the Partnership Platform on Localizing the SDGs, to also contribute to operationalizing the UN Local2030 Coalition strategic vision and tools. The Partnership supports countries in devising their own National SDG Localization Frameworks providing a methodology co-designed with all our partners. Along this process, we worked with partners presenting their VNRs this year to present a “Joint Messaging” to boost collective action for SDGs Localization, acknowledging its potential for moving from commitment to delivery.
Italy remains fully committed to contribute to SDG11 and to SDGs localization with a view to ease collaborations across levels and countries, including their territories.
In closing, Mr Chair, Italy considers collaboration and mutual learning remain meaningful keywords, being our territories paramount fields of trial.
