4 October 2019: The city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, has announced official plans to work towards achieving the SDGs. In a public announcement, Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto noted that the city will work in partnership with institutional, non-profit, business and civic sectors to use the SDGs as a way to shape measurement standards, ensure equitable public engagement, and identify areas of need to allocate public resources.

According to the announcement on 4 October 2019, the Mayor has aligned the SDGs with the local investment areas of Pittsburgh’s resilience strategy, known as OnePGH. Among other actions related to the SDGs, in May 2019, Peduto established the Office of Equity, to embed the importance of equity in government work and address and eradicate inequalities.

In 2018, the City of Pittsburgh adopted its Climate Action Plan 3.0, which outlines strategies through which Pittsburgh can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within city limits and operations. The plan sets out pathways, strategies and a framework for achieving Pittsburgh’s goals of reducing GHG emissions by 50% by 2030 and 80% by 2050, as well as to “pursue a future carbon-neutral goal.”

The press released notes that Peduto met with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to discuss his administration’s efforts on achieving the Goals. In 2018, New York City released a Voluntary Local Review (VLR) of progress on the SDGs, and presented it during the July 2018 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). [Pittsburgh Government Press Release on SDG][SDG Knowledge Hub story: US Municipal Leaders Discuss Value of Taking on SDGs]