Activities of Grace O'SULLIVAN related to 2022/2002(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Implementation and delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (debate)
Amendments (43)
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 18 a (new)
Citation 18 a (new)
— having regard to the European Court of Auditor’s special report 26/2020 entitled 'Marine environment: EU protection is wide but not deep',
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 19 a (new)
Citation 19 a (new)
— Having regard to the global launch of the Inner Development Goals Alliance in March 2022 with Costa Rica as its first partner country,
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the impact of the COVID- 19 pandemic is not yet fully known, but has already led to a significant degree of SDG backsliding globally, including in the EU where the SDG index score declined for the first time; whereas according to the United Nations “Financing for Sustainable Development Report” (2021), the Covid-19 pandemic could lead to a “lost decade” for sustainable development; whereas LDCs have been hit particularly hard because of their dependence on trade as a driver of economic growth, their small domestic markets and low levels of diversification, all of which increase their vulnerability to external shocks;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the European Parliament as well the Council of the European Union and the European Council have, on repeated occasions since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015, called on the European Commission to adopt an overarching strategy to fully implement the SDGs;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
Bc. whereas the European Parliament as well as national Parliaments also have a responsibility to ensure that sustainable development is mainstreamed within their procedures, in order to break down silos;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B d (new)
Recital B d (new)
Bd. whereas the EU high-level multi- stakeholder platform on the implementation of the SDGs, which ran from 2017 to 2019, was set up to support and advise the European Commission and provided a forum for exchange of experience and best practice across sectors and at local, regional, national and EU level, bringing together stakeholders from civil society, non- governmental organisations, the private and corporate sector;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B e (new)
Recital B e (new)
Be. whereas the transition to a wellbeing economy, where growth is regenerative, is embedded in the EU’s 8th Environment Action Programme and enshrined in its 2030 and 2050 priority objectives; whereas this transition will require the Union to develop a more holistic approach to policymaking through, inter alia, the use of a summary dashboard that measures economic, social and environmental progress ‘beyond GDP’;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B f (new)
Recital B f (new)
Bf. whereas the climate and biodiversity crises are intertwined and need to be addressed in tandem and coherently, taking into account that policies to protect biodiversity and mitigate climate change are not always mutually supportive;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B g (new)
Recital B g (new)
Bg. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly exacerbated the existing debt problems of developing countries, further endangering their efforts at mobilizing sufficient resources to achieve the SDGs; whereas, accordingly, additional efforts in terms of debt relief are urgently needed to avoid widespread defaults in developing countries and to facilitate investments in recovery and the SDGs;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B h (new)
Recital B h (new)
Bh. whereas according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Report of 2022, climate change has reduced food and water security, hindering efforts to meet the SDGs;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B i (new)
Recital B i (new)
Bi. whereas oceans are huge reservoirs of biodiversity and the primary regulator of the global climate; whereas their conservation is critical to sustainable development and contributes to poverty eradication, providing sustainable livelihoods and food security for billions of people;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Reaffirms its commitment to the 2030 Agenda and the 17 SDGs; stresses that, in the light of the pandemic, the SDGs provide a unique pathway to both ensure a recovery that woulda wellbeing economy, that leaves no one behind and, building back better a more equitable and resilient world;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the commitment by the President of the Commission to pursue a ‘whole-of-government’ approach towards the EU’s SDG implementation and to mainstream the SDGs across each Commissioner’s portfolio; asserts, however, that such an approach can only be effective with leadership at the highest level; calls therefore on the European Commission and the Commission President to further detail how the ‘whole of government’ approach to the SDGs is being implemented at EU level;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Reiterates that to achieve the SDGs, the 2030 Agenda requires a strong level of societal legitimacy and a genuine political reset; recalls that the importance of structured stakeholder engagement and multi-stakeholder partnerships is at the heart of the SDGs; emphasises the immense value of civil society organisations in this regard; deeply regrets that the mandate of the multi-stakeholder platform was not renewed in 2019 and calls for its urgent reinstatement;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Is highly concerned that the key provisions of policy coherence for development are acutely lacking in the landmark ‘Fit for 55’ legislative package7 and the Commission’s work in general; _________________ 7 COM(2021)0550.regrets that the lack of an SDG implementation strategy makes it more challenging to achieve policy coherence, due to the lack of clear, measurable and time-bound EU-wide targets for all SDGs to report on; calls for sustainable development to be prioritised and mainstreamed throughout the project cycle (design, implementation, evaluation), through robust impact assessment and for all its dimensions to be systematically considered in impact assessments, disclosure and external reporting requirements;
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls for the Commission to adopt a new, high-level EU SDG implementation strategy given that there are only eight years left to achieve the 2030 Agenda and, hence, urgent implementation is required through the definition of specific, quantitative, measurable and time-bound targets and indicators;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Is of the view that the adoption of the new comprehensive implementation strategy should be preceded by a broad public participatory consultation process; calls on the EU Commission to anticipate the next UN Agenda after 2030 with a roadmap of targets and measures to plan the next sustainable developments goals;
Amendment 208 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Highlights that the European and national Parliaments also have a role to play to ensure that sustainable development is mainstreamed in procedures and that silos are broken down; emphasises the importance of the Parliament’s participation and contribution to the annual HLPF, and the role that an annual SDG implementation report could play in this regard;
Amendment 248 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Recognises the importance of voluntary local reviews and voluntary subnational reviews for the implementation of the SDGs; calls on the Commission to present an inclusive EU voluntary regional review ahead of the 2023 SDG Summit, and every four years thereafter; recalls the importance of national reviews as a way to identify tensions and trade-offs between SDGs and to generate an iterative process of adjusting policies in the light of progress towards targets;
Amendment 257 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Amendment 266 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Underlines that the EU budget is a pivotal tool for implementing the SDGs, due to its size of EUR 1.8 trillion, long- term reach and multinational dimension9 ; urges donors to rapidly scale up ODA to meet commitments which have not yet been delivered on; _________________ 9 Policy Department for Budgetary Affairs, Directorate-General for Internal Policies, for the Committee on Budgetary Control, 'The Sustainable Development Goals in the EU budget', 2021.
Amendment 267 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Underlines the structural challenges of developing countries in terms of domestic resource mobilisation linked to, inter alia, illicit financial flows, unsustainable debt burdens, unbalanced trade agreements as well as tax evasion and aggressive tax planning by multinationals; takes the view that the fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda requires an ambitious plan at international level to increase domestic resource mobilisation to address those issues;
Amendment 269 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. calls on the EU to scale up its cooperation with developing countries on tax matters to enable them to enhance mobilisation of public resources; to this end, calls equally on the EU to, inter alia, take the lead to clamp down on tax evasion and tax avoidance practices, to ensure a fair distribution of taxing rights while negotiating tax and investment treaties, to allow developing countries to tax exports of raw materials insofar as it is WTO-compatible, with a view to enable developing countries to expand their fiscal space to deliver on the SDGs;
Amendment 270 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 c (new)
Paragraph 14 c (new)
14c. Notes with concern that public indebtedness in the global south was already at unprecedented levels before Covid-19, which resulted in an increasing portion of public budget being used to service external debts, thereby affecting the capacity of governments to adequately fund and deliver basic public services; is alarmed that the current crisis has exacerbated these pre-existing debt vulnerabilities; calls for the creation of a multilateral debt handling mechanism, under UN auspices, to address the debt crisis in developing countries and the financing requirements of the 2030 Agenda;
Amendment 271 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 d (new)
Paragraph 14 d (new)
14d. Notes with concern that over the past few years, the level of concessionality of ODA has gradually decreased for developing countries in general and for LDCs in particular, although concessionality is of particular importance for LDCs to prevent unsustainable debt burdens; stresses the need for donors to prioritize grant-based financing, especially to LDCs;
Amendment 275 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Welcomes the Commission’s efforts to track EU budget expenditure on climate, biodiversity, clean air, migration and gender equality10 ; regrets, however, that no progress has been made to track SGDs-related expenditure in its entirety, or to track inconsistencies among expenditures which hinder the EU and third countries’ achievement of the SDGs, notably in the area of agriculture; urgently calls on Member States and the EU to identify and phase out all environmentally harmful subsidies by 2027, including a phase-out of all fossil fuel subsidies by 2025 at the latest; _________________ 10 Policy Department for Budgetary Affairs, Directorate-General for Internal Policies, for the Committee on Budgetary Control, 'Budgetary control of the Sustainable Development Goals in the EU budget – What measures are in place to ensure effective implementation?', 2021.
Amendment 288 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Welcomes efforts made to integrate the SDGs into the European Semester; regrets however that the integration of biodiversity indicators in the European semester is not yet implemented;
Amendment 293 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Notes the prominent role attributed to blending mechanisms in EU development policy and the financing of the SDGs at the expense of other aid modalities; stresses that, while blended finance has grown rapidly, there is little evidence of its development impact, as most blended finance currently goes to middle-income countries, with only a small portion going to LDCs; recalls equally that blending raises concerns in terms of debt sustainability; calls, accordingly, on the EU and its Member States to adopt a cautious approach to blended finance and ensure that all finance mobilised through blending meets development effectiveness principles;
Amendment 295 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Underlines that public and private financing must be aligned with the SDGs; urges the Commission to embed the 2030 Agenda in economic and financial policies and legislation; Recalls that the private sector can guarantee neither universal access to, nor replace public investments in, critical services, such as health, education and social protection, which provide crucial long-term prospects for the graduation from poverty; Underlines that public and private financing must be aligned with the SDGs; urges the Commission to embed the 2030 Agenda in economic and financial policies and legislation; calls on the EU and its Member States, in a context where ODA remains a scarce resource, to limit blending operations to those areas where they can add value to the local economy, but to exclude blending finance from essential public services, particularly health, education and social protection, as the monetisation of those sectors could widen already existing inequalities and jeopardise universal access to those services; more broadly, urges the Commission and the Member States to prioritise partnerships with LDC domestic enterprises that pursue sustainable and inclusive business models;
Amendment 322 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 5 a (new)
Subheading 5 a (new)
2022 High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development
Amendment 325 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Amendment 326 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 b (new)
Paragraph 21 b (new)
21b. Regrets that three of the four 2020 SDG 14 targets ('Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development') have not been met by the EU; regrets furthermore that in 2020 the ECA found that, while a framework was in place to protect the marine environment, the EU’s actions had not restored seas to good environmental status, nor fishing to sustainable levels in all seas; calls on the Commission to implement the findings and recommendations of the ECA report in its upcoming 'Action Plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems' , as well as in upcoming actions under the Biodiversity Strategy;
Amendment 327 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 c (new)
Paragraph 21 c (new)
21c. Recalls that the climate and biodiversity crises are intertwined and need to be addressed in tandem and coherently; emphasises that legally binding nature restoration targets are urgently needed to address the drastic decline of biodiversity in the EU and achieve SDGs 14 and 15, to help mitigate the climate crisis and to build resilience; regrets, in this regard, the delay of the proposal for an EU nature restoration law and calls for its swift publication;
Amendment 328 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 d (new)
Paragraph 21 d (new)
21d. Underlines the importance of SDG 17 ('strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development'); notes, in the framework of global partnerships and capacity building, the innovative role of open source initiatives such as the Inner Development Goals (IDGs)1a, which aim to educate, inspire and empower people to be a positive force for change in society, thereby accelerating progress towards achievement of the SDGs; _________________ 1a http://www.innerdevelopmentgoals.org/
Amendment 332 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Insists that a global political resetsystemic change and intensified multilateral cooperation will be necessary in order for the EU and its partners to make meaningful progress in the coming eight years; recalls that, as the world’s most successful integration project with a track record of successfully championing multilateralism, the EU is uniquely placed to accelerate progress on all SDGs, and notably SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals); calls, therefore, on the EU to assume a leadership role at the 2022 HLPF and the 2023 SDG Summit in defining this political resettaking forward this systemic change;
Amendment 335 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Is alarmed at the fact that the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services will undermine progress in approximately 80 % of the assessed targets for the SDGs; recalls that ecological restoration is critical for the implementation of the ‘One Health’ approach; calls on the EU to address the root causes of biodiversity loss and to mainstream obligations on conservation, restoration and the sustainable use of resources into broader development policies;
Amendment 339 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 b (new)
Paragraph 22 b (new)
22b. Underlines that international law has evolved to embrace new concepts such as “the Common heritage of humanity”, “Sustainable Development”, “Future Generations” but stresses that there is no permanent international mechanism to monitor and address environmental damage and destruction that alters the global commons or ecosystem services;
Amendment 340 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 c (new)
Paragraph 22 c (new)
22c. Calls on the EU and the Member States to support, at the 2022 HLPF and the 2023 SDG Summit, a paradigm shift to include ecocide and the right of future generations in international environmental law;
Amendment 341 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 d (new)
Paragraph 22 d (new)
22d. Recalls that developing countries are historically vulnerable to external shocks owing to narrow export bases and less diversified economies; stresses, therefore, that one of the main challenges for developing countries is to climb up the global value chain through economic diversification and to shift from an a export-oriented production model towards development based on domestic and regional markets; to this end, emphasises the crucial role of multilateral fora and institutions to advance those objectives, with the view to harness resilience and to increase national or regional autonomy in the production of essential goods and services;
Amendment 349 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Stresses the fact that Europe faces its greatest SDG challenges in the areas of sustainable dietfood systems and agriculture, climate and biodiversity (SDGs 2, 12, 13, 14 and 15); calls on the Commission to develop a robust comparative analysis of SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) and SDG 14 (life below water), as trends cannot be calculated due to insufficient comparable data over the past five years;
Amendment 351 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Amendment 354 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 b (new)
Paragraph 23 b (new)
23b. Stresses the fact that at least 85% of all new external actions implemented through the Global Europe - NDICI instrument will be required to incorporate gender as a significant or principal objective as defined by the gender equality policy marker of the OECD Development Assistance Committee, and at least 5 % of these actions should have gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights and empowerment as a principal objective; reiterates that the European External Action Service and the Member States should consider Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights as a priority in the EU programming process, including in joint programming; insists on swift and full implementation of the requirement in the EU's Environment Action Programme to 2030 ('the 8th EAP') that gender is mainstreamed throughout climate and environmental policies, including by incorporating a gender perspective at all stages of the policy-making process;