Scientific research has been acknowledged to play a pivotal role in achieving the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda. Vice-versa, since its adoption, the 2030 Agenda has been reinvigorating the academic production on sustainable development. This study provides a systematic literature review of the most used and newly developed approaches by academic research to support the achievement of the SDGs in the EU. The results are presented by descriptive, bibliometric, and content analysis. The descriptive analysis highlights a rising interest of scholars in operationalizing the 2030 Agenda, with a growing interest at the urban level. A text-mining tool was employed to scan the most investigated SDGs in the selected papers. Major interest by scholars is devoted to environmental concerns (especially linked to SDG 13, 7, 6, 12, and 15), while social issues (e.g., SDG 4, 5, and 10) still deserve more research. The bibliometric analysis unveiled poor intra-cluster connections, highlighting the need for more transdisciplinary research. The most recurrent research fields on the SDGs in the EU are governance, circular economy, ecosystem services, urban localization, and decision making. We advise future studies to focus on gaps highlighted and adopt a system perspective, boosting Policy Coherence across governance levels and scales of implementation by looking at trade-offs and assessing context-specific priorities.

Madrid’s Roadmap to Climate Neutrality by 2050 is the city’s strategy to attain a 65% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and decarbonisation in 2050. This paper analyses the Roadmap to extract a concept of neutrality, as defined from the perspective of a local or regional government (LRG). It then runs a semantic comparison between the Roadmap’s policy lines and indicators and the metrics used in a sample of other LRGs voluntary local reviews on the localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It assesses the extent to which the roadmap’s policy priorities and goals fit with the idea of climate neutrality and decarbonisation that other LRGs are monitoring. The paper also links the Roadmap with the SDGs, studying to what extent certain goals resonate with the climate neutrality dimension monitored therein and the other reviews in the sample. The paper suggests that there is still significant diversity in the way LRGs approach climate neutrality, although carbon emissions and sustainable transport remain common priorities. A large majority of indicators monitoring climate neutrality still refer to key climate-related SDGs, such as SDG 7, 11, 12, and 13, even though there is growing evidence that LRGs are diversifying the concept of decarbonisation policy with which they are working.

Urban environments are at the forefront of the European Union (EU) climate ambitions as envisaged by the European Green Deal (EGD). Cities are also central to delivering most of the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, EU cities face severe implementation challenges in operationalising the EGD and SDGs. This research aims to support EU cities in implementing the EGD by providing a coherent framework, aligning green transition policies with the SDG targets and indicators. The framework may support policy coherence and ambition alignment among governance levels. Specifically, the research identified 22 SDG targets matched to 76 EGD policy targets requiring implementation at the urban level, with SDGs 7, 13 and 15 being the most addressed. Furthermore, the application of the framework allows for informing SDG interlinkage assessment among policy targets also at the urban level, acknowledging potential caution areas, especially when implementing EGD targets directly linked to SDGs 7, 13, 6 and 9. Major implications include (i) the opportunity to align local development programmes with identified overarching priorities, unlocking the 2030 Agenda's potential to inform policy‐making at the urban level, and (ii) the need to properly address trade‐offs when implementing EGD policies to exploit EU cities' potential towards the EU green transition.

Research on the Leave No One Behind principle of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the context of the Agenda 2030 is currently prevalent; however, research on monitoring child poverty at the sub-national (local) level is still limited. This paper addresses this gap by examining indicators developed for monitoring the phenomenon at different territorial levels (global, European, and national) and assessing their territorial transposition locally, using the city of Cadiz, Spain, as a case study. Interviews with local stakeholders reveal that despite the availability and access to related indicators and data, relevant actors must enhance their efforts to utilize such indicators effectively. Based on desktop research and qualitative analysis, the paper delivers recommendations for improving local monitoring of child poverty in Europe and inducing policy changes. This knowledge can inform targeted interventions, policy formulation, and resource allocation to tackle child poverty and promote equitable and inclusive societies.

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission (EC) has been running one of the first attempts by an intergovernmental organization to provide local governments implementing the UN’s 2030 Agenda with guidance on how this could be undertaken more successfully. The aim is to support the monitoring and possibly the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by providing an inspirational framework of indicators for the monitoring that could be relevant specifically for European cities, as well as providing overall support on the various technical aspects that must be considered when preparing Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs). The main output of the JRC in this respect is the European Handbook for SDG Voluntary Local Reviews. Its first version was published in 2020 when only a few VLRs had been published in Europe. Since then, a growing number of local governments are engaged in this exercise. To facilitate the learning from these experiences, the JRC organized advanced training and coordination sessions with several European cities. These training sessions were the occasion to share experiences and good practices and to provide cities with additional insights and guidance. In 2022, a new edition of the European Handbook was published. This revision includes the refinement of indicators and methods for monitoring, aspects of the Handbook that cities found problematic or complex, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The new Handbook of local SDG monitoring addresses related challenges and opportunities, expanding the definition of VLRs from output-oriented to process-oriented. Additional activities include in-depth analyses of SDG interlinkages and implementation and monitoring of the European ‘Leave No One Behind’ principle at the local level. <!----> <!----> <!----> <!---->

This paper examines homelessness in the EU and focuses on how countries monitor this phenomenon, looking at the existence of monitoring frameworks and their local dimensions. The 8th Overview of Housing Exclusion in Europe reveals that there are at least 895,000 individuals experiencing homelessness, sleeping rough or in temporary accommodations, marking a 70% increase compared to a decade ago. To combat this problem, the Lisbon Declaration on Combating Homelessness was signed by EU Member States, institutions, and civil society organizations, aiming to eradicate homelessness by 2030. The methodology includes desk research and interviews with statistical and homelessness experts. Our findings reveal that EU member states have diverse legal national definitions, national strategies and monitoring programs at the local level. Additionally, there are varied socio-demographic profiles of people experiencing homelessness across different countries.