The Nordic Region and the 2030 Agenda

The Nordic countries have continuously ranked at the top of international assessments with regards to SDG implementation. This does not mean, however, that sustainable development in the Nordic Region has been fully achieved. Each country continues to face numerous challenges, including unsustainable consumption and production patterns, the effects of a changing climate, as well as rebalancing our societies after multiple crises marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing recovery, energy supply shortages in Europe and the war in Ukraine. According to the European Sustainable Development Report for 2022, the world is currently not on track to achieving most of the SDGs, underscoring the importance of the Nordic Region’s ability and need to reverse this trend and enhance progress on multiple fronts. The purpose of this edition is to update and compile an overview of the 2030 Agenda efforts in the Nordic Region with relevant and accessible information. It describes central policy decisions, actors and national structures in ongoing SDG work, and highlights inspiring examples of national networks and societal participation. The processes and structures for SDG implementation show that the Nordic countries each have their respective strengths and challenges. The ways in which national priorities and strategic plans have been put in place and how progress is monitored vary, as does the interaction between government, parliament, and societal actors. What is increasingly noticeable is the effort to improve stakeholder engagement, and there is an increasing data collection consistency on part of the national statistics agencies that have been given responsibility for following up on national SDG indicators. This work is also reflected in the voluntary national reviews, which make the reporting even more comprehensive in scope.