4. Methodology and process for the preparation of the review

The preparation Iceland published its first Voluntary National Review in 2019. In its second VNR, Iceland follows up on its national, regional, and international progress towards the 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in a more inclusive and concise manner than before.

The government’s work with Agenda 2030 and sustainable development has come a long way since 2019, especially in terms of access to high quality data and information on Iceland’s progress. The structure of the national work changed significantly with the establishment of Sustainable Iceland in 2022, a cooperation platform to accelerate actions towards sustainable development. After the 2021 parliamentary elections, the new government has increasingly emphasised sustainable development. In a new presidential decree, the Prime Minister’s Office is tasked with coordinating the government’s work towards sustainable development, a just transition and a wellbeing economy. Furthermore, a national strategy for sustainable development will be submitted to Parliament before the end of 2023.

Sustainable Iceland will lead the formulation of the new strategy and coordinate the government’s work on sustainable development in cooperation with various stakeholders. One representative from each of the 12 ministries and one from the Association of Local Authorities form a steering group to manage work on the new strategy. The Sustainability Council serves as an advisory group to Sustainable Iceland. Its members include all the minsters of the government and representatives from political parties, municipalities, industry, trade unions, and civil society. The Sustainability Council meets approximately three times per year, but its members are actively involved in the strategy work between meetings.

The Prime Minister’s Office was responsible for the coordination and compilation of this report, in close cooperation with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The report includes contributions from civil society, youth organizations, municipalities, academic institutions, and all government ministries. Assessing the progress made towards each SDG consists of two independent assessments: a government assessment made by specialists from the ministries and Statistics Iceland and a civil society assessment made by a group of civil society actors. Iceland’s first VNR report placed special emphasis on children, and children, youth and future generations continue to be an integral government focus. The SDG Youth Council wrote a chapter in this report and the report also includes a message from Iceland’s UN youth delegate for sustainable development.

Parallel to this publication, the Icelandic Association of Local Authorities has published its first Voluntary Subnational Report. The report relies on various data sources, including a survey that was sent out to all municipalities in March 2023.

The structure of the report comes from the official UN guidelines, and the content is from data and recently published studies and reports. The report itself is short, but more details on Iceland’s work towards Agenda 2030 can be found on the government’s SDG website and the online SDG dashboard.

Preparation for Iceland’s second Voluntary National Review started in the fall of 2022. All major stakeholders were invited to contribute to the review and were presented with the results of the report once it was ready. The following is a graphic description of the VNR process. 

Stakeholder participation

Civil society

The United Nations Association in Iceland have a representative in the National Sustainability Council. To ensure an extensive consultation, the Association was tasked with carrying out a civil society assessment of Iceland’s progress on each of the 17 SDGs. Guided by transparency, civil society in Iceland was offered the opportunity to publish their position and recommendations alongside the government’s assessment. To ensure full freedom of expression, government representatives were not involved in the assessment process; it was entirely organized and operated by the UN Association.

The kick-off meeting for the project was held in January 2022, and the number of participants exceeded expectations. In the end, there were 55 organizations that participated in the writing of the civil society assessment. Each of the organizations was able to contribute to the work related to an SDG according to its area of interest and expertise. A total of eight working groups met four times over a four month period where participants engaged in intensive and constructive conversations about the challenges and opportunities related to the respective SDG. Co-constructed results from these meetings can be found in chapter seven, Progress on Goals and Targets, along with a list of the organizations that took part in assessing each goal.

The project has created a large group of organizational representatives who know the SDGs well and whose interests cover all 17 goals. Therefore, there is a strong will, both within that group and on the government’s side, to continue to have regular consultations and dialogues about Iceland’s progress with the SDGs. 

Children and youth

Children were at the forefront of Iceland’s Voluntary National Review in 2019, since consultation with children and youth about the SDGs has been one of the focal points in Iceland’s implementation of the goals. Both the SDGs Youth Council and the National Youth Council of Iceland (LUF) were invited to publish their thoughts and priorities in this report.

The SDGs Youth Council was founded in 2018 and meets annually with the government in addition to having a representative on the Sustainability Council. At its meetings with the government, the council presents its priorities and demands answers from ministers about their plans and priorities. The most recent meeting took place on 28 April 2023, where the council presented their thoughts on the most important issues and SDGs. The Youth Council’s priorities are published as they were presented to the government in chapter five of this report.

Since 2020, LUF has elected a UN Youth Delegate for Sustainable Development. The youth delegate is elected democratically by all LUF members and is a part of Iceland’s delegation for the United Nations High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on sustainable development. The youth delegate is also LUF’s representative to the Sustainability Council. The UN youth delegate for sustainable development has also submitted a chapter in this report.

Icelandic Association of Local Authorities

The Prime Minister formally asked the Icelandic Association of Local Authorities to participate in the preparation of the government’s Voluntary National Review in December 2022. The chapter on local authorities was written by the association’s representatives and prepared in collaboration with the Prime Minister´s Office. Each of the eight Regional Municipal Federations nominated one representative to sit on the National Sustainability Council.

The association has been a member of the government’s working groups on the SDGs from the beginning, and a special collaboration platform between the state and local authorities for the SDGs was established in 2020. That platform was used to prepare the VNR, and the association also decided to prepare a Voluntary Subnational Review. The report is largely based on a survey that was conducted among Icelandic municipalities in collaboration with the Prime Minister’s Office.

Chapter six is then written by the Association of Local Authorities on the localization of the SDGs on a municipal level.

Stakeholder consultation 

The Future Committee of the Parliament

At the beginning of the current election period, a future committee was constituted within Parliament. Its role, among other things, is to discuss Iceland’s future challenges as far as technological changes, long-term changes in interactions with nature, demographic changes, and automation are concerned. The committee is made up of eleven members of Parliament from all parliamentary parties, and it operates in similar fashion as the Parliament’s standing committees.

The future committee of the Parliament reviewed the final draft of this report. Their opinion is as follows:

Opinion of the Future Committee

At the committee’s meeting on 2 May, the Prime Minister’s Office presented a draft of the government’s Voluntary National Review to the United Nations on the Sustainable Development Goals and requested the committee’s opinion on the draft. On the basis of Article 21 of the Standing Orders of the Icelandic parliament Althingi, Act No. 55/1991, and the second paragraph of Article 2 of the Rules of Procedure of Althingi’s standing committees, the Committee had the following statement entered in the minutes of its meeting on 16 May:

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a roadmap to sustainable development and should serve as the foundation of all government policies and actions. The objectives of the SDGs are consistent with those of the Future Committee, whose role is to discuss, among other things, Iceland’s challenges and opportunities in the future with a view to technological changes, artificial intelligence and automation, interaction with nature, and demographic change. In an ever-changing world, it is important that the government’s long-term goals are clear and are determined with the involvement of experts, elected representatives, and the general public. The SDGs are one of the best tools we have for this, and it is important that consultation be regular and on the broadest possible basis. By doing so, we ensure long-term thinking and that our strategy is clear and independent of elections and changes in the system of government.

The committee accepts the suggestions that young people should play a greater role in the government’s policymaking. The future generation that will inherit the country needs to be heard especially, while at the same time, a forum is needed for the input of elders, who have the benefit of experience. The Committee believes that it is important for the government to create a forum and opportunities for increased public involvement in public policymaking. Consideration could be given to deliberative polling and creating scenarios. Scenarios highlight varying potential manifestations of the future and are an excellent way to open a channel for new ideas and promote strategic decision-making. In this manner, the most important issues of the future can be discussed in a democratic way and on an informed basis. Increased public participation strengthens trust and confidence in the future of society.

In tandem with climate change, it is inevitable that humanity will undergo a paradigm shift. Such a paradigm shift needs to involve the entire society, making it important to mobilize everyone to participate. As climate change is occurring or is imminent, human rights, women’s rights, and the rights of marginalized groups that will be particularly vulnerable must be protected.

The recent report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that all actions to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases need to be accelerated. The Future Committee emphasizes that positive actions in environmental and climate issues are a priority, focusing especially on a fair transition, the circular economy, and the protection of biodiversity.

The Future Committee believes that the effects of technological change must benefit individuals, society, and the environment as presented in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. An active dialogue is needed in order to utilize technology constructively and prevent its negative consequences. It is also important that the comments made in the report and responses following its publication be taken up for discussion by the government and acted upon.

Government’s consultation portal and sustainability council

To achieve extensive consultation, the VNR was sent to the National Sustainability Council and published for public feedback on the government’s consultation portal. Through the portal, the public can find plans for legislation, drafts of bills and regulations, documents on strategic planning, and more. Anyone can submit a comment or suggestion or subscribe to automatic updates on information by subject area, organization, or issue. Subject areas are based on the division of the government’s subjects and issues are categorized according to the Public Finances Act. At the end of the consultation period, comments were processed, and the outcomes reported.

For the time being, only ministries can submit cases for consultation, but it is likely that state public agencies and other parties will be given consultation access later. Other prospective users of the portal are the public and interested parties such as business, non-governmental organizations, and the academic community.

A total of three opinions were received through the online consultation portal. The low response rate could be due to the concurrent stakeholder consultations that led up to this second VNR. The opinions were from the Icelandic Teachers’ Union, The Icelandic Disability Alliance and Save the Children in Iceland. These were all considered when writing the final report.

The Icelandic Teachers’ Union emphasized the importance of education as an equalization tool for sustainable communities and Iceland must pay special attention to vulnerable groups.

The Icelandic Disability Alliance encouraged the government to ensure the rights of disabled people when it comes to economic and job security, access to healthcare, affordable and accessible housing and education.

Save the Children in Iceland highlighted that sustainability of one nation can never be at the expense of another as well as the importance to listen to children and their proposals. They emphasize SDGs 1, 2, 4, 9 and 16.