Within the framework of the SDG Summit held by the United Nations from 24 to 25 September in New York, the Global Forum for National SDG Advisory Bodies has been founded. The kick-off for the Forum was presented by Stephan Contius, Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda in the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU), Annika Lindblom, Secretary General of the Finnish Sustainability Commission, Charles Nouhan, Chair of the Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future, an NGO headquartered in the Netherlands and New York City, and Cristina Gallach, High Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda in Spain.

The Professional Coordination Working Committee of the National Council for Sustainable Development (NFFT) held a meeting on September 4 2019. The purpose of the meeting was to prepare the NFFT’s opinion on the draft version of the government’s “First Climate Change Action Plan for the Period until 2020” (ÉCsT).

The minister for innovation and technology launched a consultation process on the draft version of the ÉCsT. The Professional Coordination Working Committee is responsible for discussing and adopting an opinion reflection the NFFT’s position.

The Hungarian Embassy in Copenhagen and the State of Green, a Danish professional organisation will jointly host a two-day programme in Copenhagen between October 3 and 5 for the stakeholders of Hungary’s water sector and sustainable water management.

Main agenda of the programme:

• Water and wastewater pipeline reconstruction
• Water and wastewater treatment and recycling
• Rainwater treatment in the context of the climate change

The Conference intends to produce recommendations on current EU policies regarding the water, energy and ocean sectors and their future development. By doing so, Councils and their partners hope to provide the newly elected members of the European Commission and the European Parliament with tangible analyses and solutions at a timely moment, right at the start of their mandate.

NFFT (NCSD), as a member of EEAC, shall be represented at the conference by a delegation consisting of Mr Gábor Bartus, NFFT’s secretary-general, Mr Zsombor Barta, co-chairman of EEAC WGSD, and Mr Gábor Náray-Szabó, NFFT’s co-chair.

NFFT and the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary (BCSDH) organised a business breakfast to discuss the third monitoring report of the National Framework Strategy on Sustainable Development that is currently being compiled, at the Parliament on June 13th 2019.

At the meeting, corporate leaders presented their actions to promote sustainability in Hungary and exchanged information on the state of sustainability in Hungary.

In his opening address, Gábor Bartus, NFFT’s secretary shared NFFT’s position on the state of sustainability in Hungary and stressed that there are many issues that need to be addressed not only in the area of natural resources but also in the field of economic and social capital. This work could be supported by the guidelines of the National Framework Strategy on Sustainable Development.