29 November 2018: During a conference considering local leadership for sustainable development in Italy, participants stressed the need to strengthen interconnectedness and dialogue between municipalities to make progress on the SDGs. The conference, hosted by the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM), also considered the 2018 Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Italy’s SDG Cities Index report.
The Conference on local leadership for sustainability (‘Per un’Italia sostenibile: la leadership locale come motore dello sviluppo’) took place on 29 November 2019, at FEEM, SDSN Italy’s host institution, in Milan, Italy.
Italy’s SDG Cities Index report seeks to guide local policymakers in further aligning municipal initiatives with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Presenting the report, Laura Cavalli, FEEM and SDSN Italy, remarked that about 75% of Italy’s population lives in urban areas, and that the Index could serve as an analytical planning tool for cities to encourage reflection on ways to address population growth and achieve the SDGs, according to the summary of the event.
The report titled, ‘Per un’Italia sostenibile: l’SDSN Italia SDGs City Index 2018,’ currently available in Italian, examines SDG implementation in Italy’s municipalities. It features indicators specific to the Italian context, which can be used to monitor and measure SDG progress at the sub-national level. It examines 101 municipalities on 16 of the 17 SDGs, using 39 statistical indicators. The Index excludes SDG 14 (life below water) for comparability reasons.
Per the summary of the conference, the report finds that Italian cities have achieved approximately 53% of the SDG targets. Out of the 101 cities analyzed, none has “reached more than 80 per cent of overall achievement” on the SDGs.
The Italian SDG City Index was initially presented during a two-week festival on sustainable development organized by the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (Alleanza Italiana per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile – ASviS) and other stakeholders, from 25 May to 7 June 2018, which took place across Italy. [Conference Summary] [Conference Programme (in Italian)]) [Publication: Italy’s SDG Cities Index report – Per un’Italia sostenibile: l’SDSN Italia SDGs City Index 2018]