The Interdepartmental Commission for Sustainable Development has published the national report on the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. It provides an update on the ten national priorities of the National Sustainable Development Plan, the core document that sets out the country’s long-term vision for sustainable development.

The report is based on 112 indicators and shows “progress towards greater sustainability in 70% of the objectives studied.” This means that the country is on the right track, but that in the six years remaining, the government will need to accelerate implementation of most of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but also work to reverse negative trends.

Progress

In the area of energy, Luxembourg has made notable progress. The report points out, for example, that energy intensity has been steadily improving since 2004. The share of renewable energies is growing exponentially, representing 14% of total consumption in 2022. “It also seems that the country will be able to exceed the target set for renewable energy in final energy consumption even though it has been raised in the meantime from 25% to 37%,” says the report.

CO2 emissions in the manufacturing sector have also been falling steadily since 2009. “Luxembourg is betting heavily on innovation, research and sectors of excellence to promote a sustainable industry, but few positive results have been observed,” says the report, which adds that in 2021, “greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 32.4% compared with emissions in 2005, a record year for Luxembourg. Emissions from sectors not covered by the emissions trading scheme are also experiencing a favourable trend, with a 22.6% reduction since 2005.”

Responsible consumption and production is also seen as progress, with a green and circular economy developing in Luxembourg and a sharp increase in the production of sustainable goods and services? “The treatment of municipal waste by recycling, composting and energy recovery is steadily increasing, reaching a rate of 93.9% by 2021,” notes the report.

And gaps

Even more needs to be done in terms of climate action, particularly with regard to transport and the promotion of more sustainable mobility at a time when population growth is leading to increased demand for mobility. The report states that by 2035, we will need to be able to manage 40% more journeys than in 2017. Even so, the use of public transport is growing too slowly. In 2021, only 13.7% of travellers used public transport, despite regular investment by the government in land transport infrastructure and the introduction of free travel on public transportation, a strong incentive. More than two-thirds (69%) of journeys are still made by car and two-thirds of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the transport sector. Moreover, Luxembourg is the second most motorised country in the world. One of the objectives remains for 22% of home-work journeys to be made by public transport and 13% on foot or by bicycle. In addition, the government projects that by 2030, 49% of the vehicle fleet will be electric or hybrid.

Next comes the agriculture sector. Organic farming, considered to be the best way of maintaining soil sustainability and productivity, is steadily increasing. “The proportion of used agricultural area converted to organic farming has been increasing slowly but steadily for more than 20 years (6.9% in 2022)”, details the report. But more needs to be done, as the target set is 20% by... the end of the year. Even more ambitious, the country has pledged to steer agricultural production towards 100% organic by 2050 and to reduce the use of plant protection products, which should be halved by 2030.

On the financial front, the share of environmental taxes in total tax revenue continues to fall (3.2% in 2022) whilst the revenue from these taxes has increased in absolute terms. Why is there a contradiction? “This relative decrease demonstrates the absence of a transfer of the tax burden from labour income to behaviour that is unfavourable to the environment, as recommended by the European Green Pact,” says the report. Linked to this, the at-risk-of-poverty or exclusion rate, which is one of the major objectives, remains a sensitive issue. This rate has been rising steadily for twenty years, reaching 19.4% in 2022.

Water management remains a critical point. The percentage of natural surface water bodies that have reached a satisfactory state was only 49.1%, a fall of 17.2% over ten years. This means that the condition of bodies of water, a precious resource, is tending to deteriorate.

Going faster, and further

Given the relatively short time remaining before the Agenda 2030 is put in place, the Interdepartmental Commission on Sustainable Development is proposing two avenues that should be “easy” to implement.

For the commission, the check for sustainability should be applied more effectively. This tool, provided for in the National Sustainable Development Plan and in place since 2023, should make it possible to “strengthen the coherence of policies and improve coordination of the subject within the legislative framework.” “The creation of new specific indicators in collaboration with Statec would enable better monitoring and give greater visibility to the efforts made. It could make them easier to read and recognise,” suggests the report.

Another potential avenue: better support and enhancement of municipalities, which are key players in sustainable development, but also support for businesses, whose participation will be essential to achieving the targets set for 2030.

This article was originally published in .