The annual follow-up and evaluation report on the 2030 Agenda goals in the Catalan capital has now been released and it shows that the city is making progress despite the current crisis
2022 will go down in history as the year war broke out in Ukraine. The Russian invasion has not only destroyed Ukraine, it has also had a number of other knock-on effects such as the rising cost of many raw materials across the continent. Despite the current crisis, Barcelona is making progress in fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals set out in the 2030 Agenda, as shown in the annual follow-up and evaluation report on the 2030 Agenda goals.
Barcelona, better equipped to face the crisis
As indicated by the third deputy mayor of Barcelona, Laia Bonet, and the Commissioner for the Barcelona 2030 Agenda, Bàrbara Pons, “in a context of change and shocks, Barcelona has managed to find a way to move forward with its commitment to meet the goals set out in the Agenda. Despite the encouraging results in the report, they both call for the city to move faster to make achievement of the SDGs a reality when there are just seven years to go till the target date: 2030.
The report, which is also available in Spanish, highlights, among many other aspects, the positive results with regard to SDG number 13: “Climate action”. The results of the report highlight that, although excessive and sustained heat waves are expected to become ever more frequent, the City Council is prepared because by 2030 100% of the population will have a climate shelter less than 300 metres from their home and a water garden in every district This can be achieved because in 2022, 95% of citizens already had facilities of this type within a 10-minute walk from their home.
Another successful figure relates to SDG number 3: “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”. If we take as an example the under-5 mortality rate, there has been little change in the past five years and the figure stands at 43.4 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. With regard to neonatal mortality, despite the rise in the latest available data (from 2019) to 2.5 deaths per 1,000 live births, if we look at the whole statistical series, levels have remained very low and close to the 2030 target.
The halfway point of the SDGs
The current crisis has not hindered the work to achieve the SDGs at the moment when the Agenda has reached its halfway point (2016-2030). It is for this reason that 2023 will be a key year for determining the 2030 Agenda’s impact capacity within the local sphere. In September this year, the United Nations will be organising an extraordinary summit to take stock of the situation and relaunch the initiative at a global scale. Barcelona will be able to attend with its head held high and proud of having worked consistently to meet the SDGs.