Vitoria Gasteiz’s commitment to implementing SDGs in cities

Summary

First of all Vitoria Gasteiz is commited to implementing SDGs in the municipality. To make this commitment a reality, the city has developed Vitoria-Gasteiz´s Urban Agenda 2030. The Urban Agenda and the 2030 Agenda are presented as tools to reflect on the reality in which we live and to think about the municipality in which we want to live, a future for which the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set a clear direction for us. This is, in short, the opportunity that Vitoria-Gasteiz has now: to rethink the resources, strategies and projects for the future, and to do so through a work process that fosters collaboration and co-responsibility of all the actors of the municipality and that allows the definition of a comprehensive roadmap for the next decade. A document co-created with the citizens, especially with young and elderly people, and with people from the strategic social and economic sectors of the city as well as politicians. This document has been developed in three phases, an initial diagnostic phase, a second phase establishing the strategic framework and a third phase of contrasting and choosing the driving projects and transforming levers that will take Vitoria-Gasteiz to the year 2030. All three phases are aligned with the SDGs and also have a comprehensive system of indicators that will help us track all actions and projects to be carried out in the next 8 years that will help us achieve the SDGs in our city. Vitoria-Gasteiz also participates at regional and national level in other SDG implementation initiatives in cities such as: At the regional level: the working groups of Udalsarea 2030, network of Basque municipalities for sustainability. At the national level: Network of local entities for the 2030 Agenda. We are also part of the 100 Climate Neutral and Smart European Cities Mission by 2030 and the European Mission for Adaptation to Climate Change by, which shows a clear commitment to decarbonization and adaptation to climate change. Finally, another commitment that the city has made to achieving the SDGs in cities is its participation as a pilot city in UN-Habitat's SDG Cities initiative. In this regard we request UN-Habitat’s Executive Director to initiate a process within the UN System to establish an official SDG Cities Certification mechanism that recognizes the efforts and achievements of cities to accelerate the achievement of SDGs.