Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own.
This definition was first formulated in 1987, in the report Our Common Future by the World
Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland.
In the years that followed, the Millennium Development Goals (2000) set common priorities,
oriented primarily toward developing countries, without covering the full range of dimensions
of sustainability. Agenda 2030 came to complete what those goals had left open.
In September 2015, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted Agenda 2030, a
universal framework of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 specific targets
that applies equally to all countries.
Progress toward the SDGs is monitored through voluntary reports. At the national level, each
state submits to the UN a Voluntary National Review (VNR), outlining the current situation
and its strategic direction. Greece has already presented two VNRs.
However, Agenda 2030 itself, in paragraph 79, encourages the preparation of assessments
at the local level as well, recognising that the implementation of the goals cannot remain an
exclusively national affair. It was in this spirit that Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) were
developed—reports drawn up by municipalities and regions to assess the sustainability of
their own area.
With the aim of ensuring comparability between cities, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of
the European Commission issued the European Handbook for SDG Voluntary Local
Reviews, first released in 2020 and updated in 2022. The handbook proposes 72 indicators
for 54 specific targets, covering a spectrum from harmonised official statistics (Eurostat,
EEA, OECD) to experimental indicators developed by research institutions.
Their application is not mandatory, as each local authority selects those that fit its own
context; nevertheless, the shared methodological foundation ensures that the results remain
comparable. A VLR goes beyond the limits of a simple report. It is the tool through which a
local community obtains a well-documented picture of its level of sustainability, identifies its
shortcomings, and charts the strategic direction of its future policies.

Bibliography

• World Commission on Environment and Development (1987). Our Common Future. Oxford
  University Press.
• United Nations (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
  Development. A/RES/70/1.
• Siragusa, A., Vizcaino, M.P., Proietti, P. and Lavalle, C. (2020). European Handbook for
• SDG Voluntary Local Reviews. EUR 29757 EN, Publications Office of the European Union.
• doi:10.2760/106010.
• Siragusa, A., Stamos, I., Bertozzi, C. and Proietti, P. (2022). European Handbook for SDG
  Voluntary Local Reviews, 2022 Edition. EUR 31111 EN, Publications Office of the European
  Union. doi:10.2760/355330.
• Hellenic Republic (2022). Voluntary National Review 2022. Presidency of the Government.