The PATH2030 evaluation had two main aims:
1. To produce an independent and comprehensive view on sustainable development policy in Finland, especially regarding Finland's national policy, the national implementation of the 2030 Agenda and Finland's foreign policy.
2. To produce concrete recommendations on the future directions of Finland's sustainable development policy (taking into account different timespans and levels of ambition) as well as ways to evaluate it.
The PATH2030 evaluation was based on multidisciplinary methods and broad and diverse material in the form of indicators, documents, and expert views gathered through surveys, interviews and workshops. The evaluation focused particularly on the time after the 2030 Agenda entered into force in 2016.
No country has yet presented a credible plan for how to reach the goals of the 2030 Agenda. Finland has various national targets and programmes that point in the right direction, but the policy could be more transformative and coherent. Finland’s sustainable development policy has succeeded in being inclusive, which shows that sustainable development has become a broadly accepted aim in society.
Reaching the 2030 goals requires, however, many system-level changes and the mediation of conflicts of interest. The evaluation shows that sustainable development policy should focus on climate change, environmental questions, consumption and increasing inequality. It is recommended that sustainable development should become the basis of future Government Programmes, that a roadmap for how to reach the goals should be created and that, for example, the indicators and the Expert Panel on Sustainable Development should be revised.
Additional information in SYKE:
Annukka Berg, firstname.surname@ymparisto.fi, p. +358 295 251 842
Hanna Salo, firstname.h.surname@ymparisto.fi, p. +358 295 251 944
Jari Lyytimäki, firstname.surname@ymparisto.fi, p. +358 295 251 397
Eeva Furman, firstname.surname@ymparisto.fi, p. +358 295 251 123