Oldal 95 [95]
Ecological debt and sustainable development ] 93
its main focus on environmental challenges and aims towards the year 2050;
while the 2030 Agenda and its 17 SDGs operate on a much wider perspective
and in a fifteen-year time frame.
Without a doubt, the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in September 2015
gave a massive new rise to globally shared efforts for achieving sustainable
development. “Leave no one behind” is the central message of the initiative,
representing the firm commitment of all UN member states to move forward
towards a sustainable, inclusive future, which considers the well-being of all
members of the global community (United Nations 2015). The SDGs cover
a wide range of different objectives from eradicating poverty and reducing
inequalities to combating climate change and fighting for peace, justice, and
strong institutions - a vision fully consistent with Europe’s future policy
strategies.
The European Union was instrumental in shaping this global agenda, and
it fully committed itself to delivering on the plan and its implementation.
Over this five-year period, the EU has made significant progress towards most
of the Goals, although this progress has been unequal among the Member
States (see also Eurostat 2021). We will return to the EU’s 2030 Agenda
contribution later, but let us first take a wider look at the Unions record in
sustainable development policies.
THE EU’S PATH TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
For many years now, sustainable development has represented a great deal of
the EU’s overall political vision. It brings various forms of economic, social,
and environmental policies under one collective objective: to improve the
quality of life and well-being of all people in the continent, and globally. The
European Community had always been proud to promote peaceful societies,
social inclusion, and economic prosperity, but in 1997, with the adoption of
the Amsterdam Treaty, sustainable development was formally declared as
one of its fundamental objectives."
Since that year, sustainable development has been a decisive factor in EU
policymaking, shaping numerous sectoral policies, both at national and
international levels, and the workings of many institutions and agencies,
> Although sustainable development did not gain full legal recognition until 1997, the notion
itself had raised significant attention among EU institutions even before. In 1988, only a
year after the Brundtland Report had been published, the term sustainable development
was mentioned in European Council Conclusions for the first time. In 1993, when the
Community adopted its fifth Environment Action Programme, it named the action
plan Towards Sustainability. The document defined sustainable policy goals as “a policy
and strategy for continued economic and social development without detriment to the
environment and the natural resources on the quality of which continued human activity
and further development depend” (European Community 1993, 12).