Sustainable Development Goals in Berlin

The 2023-2026 coalition agreement of the black-red Senate and the guidelines for governmental politics intend the creation of a Sustainable Development Strategy for Berlin. A representative quotation on the theme of sustainability: “Berlin supports the United Nations‘ Sustainable Development Goal, for which we will develop a Berlin sustainability strategy.”
This process is currently under preparation.

At the end of the 2016–2021 Berlin legislative period, the former Senate Department for the Environment, Urban Mobility, Consumer Protection and Climate Action (now: Senate Department for Urban Mobility, Transport, Climate Action and the Environment), in collaboration with all Berlin Senate Departments and the Governing Mayor of Berlin – Senate Chancellery, drew up an exemplary presentation of measures and projects to implement the Sustainable Development Goals in Berlin. Through the most varied activities, the administrative authorities, alongside their partners from the scientific, civil society and economic spheres, are already contributing to the cross-cutting task of bringing sustainability to life in the daily work of the State of Berlin. In conjunction with the Indicator Report 2021 – sustainable development in Berlin, there is an inventory of the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in Berlin, providing a basis and starting point for the development of a 2030 Sustainable Development Strategy for Berlin in the 2023–2026 legislative period.

The brochure, “The 17 sustainability goals in Berlin – examples for implementation at state level” is unfortunately only available in German.

In 2015, the Member States of the United Nations agreed on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development containing 17 goals, also called the “Global Goals” or “Sustainable Development Goals” (SDGs). For Berlin too, sustainable development plays an important role in all fields of policy. For this reason, already before the publication of Agenda 2030, in 2012 and 2014, a Core Indicator Report was created for the sustainable development of Berlin. Likewise, in 2016, a sustainability profile was worked up for Berlin with the involvement of various interest groups, in which numerous measures and concrete projects were described in order to contribute to constant improvement in the field of sustainability.

The commitment of Berlin’s boroughs for implementation of Agenda 2030 and the 17 sustainable development goals is diverse. The project Global Sustainable Boroughs Berlin was carried out from autumn 2022 to spring 2023 with the aim of taking stock of the status of the implementation of the Agenda 2030 and its strategic anchoring in the twelve Berlin´s boroughs. The documentation creates a basis for the development of the sustainable development strategy for Berlin. The activities and strategic fields of action of the borough administrations are analyzed and documented, selected concepts and lighthouse projects are highlighted.
The project Global Sustainable Boroughs Berlin is a project of the Service Agency Communities in One World (German acronym: SKEW) from Engagement Global on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (German acronym: BMZ) and was being carried out in cooperation with the Senate Department for Urban Mobility, Transport, Climate Action and the Environment – SenMVKU. The bidding consortium kosmopolis.org and SKEW are responsible for the content of the documentation. The documentation “Global Sustainable Boroughs Berlin – Inventory of the commitment of Berlin’s boroughs to implement the 2030 Agenda” is unfortunately only available in German.

At the federal level too, the topic of sustainability has long been on the political agenda. In the German Sustainable Development Strategy, the Federal Government has made sustainable development a guiding principle of its policy, to be thought of as a goal and benchmark of governmental action for measures in all fields of political activity. In 2021, the German Sustainable Development Strategy was updated for the second time. All the Federal States were involved in this process, as were numerous actors of civil society and other institutions. Berlin is also getting involved in this countrywide exchange, within the framework of the Federation-State experiential exchange on sustainable development, and elsewhere.

The German Council for Sustainable Development (German acronym: RNE) is a consultative council with a mandate from the Federal Government. With effect from 18 January 2023 the Chancellor at the time, Olaf Scholz, appointed 15 prominent participants in public life to serve a three-year term. The Council was first convened in April 2001 by then-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The current chair of the RNE is Reiner Hoffmann. The RNE first and foremost offers support at the federal level in implementing the German Sustainable Development Strategy, but frequent interfaces are found at the state level and with the State of Berlin.

Successful implementation of the Agenda 2030 is only conceivable if it is broadly supported within society and actively contributed towards. The Joint Action for Sustainable Development, initiated by Federal and State Governments and coordinated by the German Council for Sustainable Development (German acronym: RNE), would like to combine all social forces on a single platform. This is currently being set up. Berlin also intends to take part in the implementation of the massive shared task of sustainability as part of the Joint Action for Sustainable Development.

To implement the German Sustainable Development Strategy, so-called RENN sites have been founded: Regional Hubs for Sustainability Strategies. These are distributed between four German regions. The RENN network, with 20 partners from all 16 Federal States, form a regional network for sustainable action and social transformation. They are intended to help to develop and link up sustainability activities at the federal, state and municipal level. Berlin is a member of the RENN.central hub.

The non-governmental organisation “Berlin21” is our network partner to implement the German Sustainable Development Strategy in Berlin. Its main goal is to support civil society’s contribution to developing a future-proof metropolitan region. To make Berlin fit for the future and pave the way for sustainable development, it makes sustainability projects and initiatives visible. Its tasks include communicating the importance of sustainable development around the capital and generating public awareness of the transformation process. Berlin 21 is currently promoting the goals and ideas of sustainable development and communicating publicly on suitable topics and activities.

• The Federal Government – sustainability policy
• Sustainable Development Goals Knowledge Platform (only in English)