UniNEtZ hands over options report to federal government

In 2016, Austria committed to implementing the UN Agenda 2030 with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Chairman of the UniNEtZ Council is Franz Fehr from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. As part of the cross-university and interdisciplinary project "UniNEtZ - Universities and Sustainable Development Goals," 19 partner institutions worked together for three years to develop options for implementing the UN SDGs in Austria. The 150 options and about 950 concrete measures were handed over to the Austrian Federal Government on March 1, 2022.

In keeping with the comprehensive nature of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the options and measures proposed by UniNEtz represent legal, technical, social, economic, environmental and psychological perspectives, among others. The spectrum ranges from a reform of social security systems to the development of sustainability-oriented reuse infrastructure, multifunctional land use systems and the reduction of food waste to the comprehensive realization of children's rights as well as a digitalization that promotes climate goals.

The option generation process was preceded by a careful analysis of the Sustainable Development Goals with their subgoals as well as the proposed indicators to measure the status of implementation. On this basis, the status quo in Austria was surveyed and the need for action was derived.

The finalized options report has now been handed over by UniNEtZ representatives to Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler and Federal Minister Karoline Edtstadler. The report provides the federal government with a scientifically sound analysis of the concrete steps that can be taken to implement the 2030 Agenda.

The entire report, including the long versions of the options and other project results, can be read at www.uninetz.at.