The commemorative event led by Iñigo Urkullu, the Basque Premier, was attended by the Basque Government’s Minister for Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment, Arantxa Tapia; the Basque Minister for Health, Gotzone Sagardui; the Mayor of Donostia/San Sebastián, Eneko Goia; the Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa Provincial Councillors for the Environment, Josean Galera, Amaia Antxustegi and José Ignacio Asensio, respectively; Koldobike Olabide, Mayor of Legazpi and member of Eudel's executive committee, along with nearly two hundred representatives of the municipalities making up the Udalsarea 2030 network.

The main achievements of the network during those two decades were showcased during the event. One was that 240 Basque municipalities already have local sustainability, climate and energy action plans in place, reaching 98% of the Basque population.

Special mention was also made of the leveraging of €66 million for local sustainability action from autonomous community funds in the last fifteen years. The structure of this municipal network, a benchmark for the rest of the Spanish State, has allowed Basque municipalities to be informed and supported in the accessing of those funds. Specifically, €5 million was allocated to the School Agenda, €25 million to air quality, €20 million to biodiversity, €14 million to contaminated land, while the circular economy received €2 million.

Taking advantage of the presence of the many mayors and leaders of supramunicipal authorities, and in the context of the energy crisis in Europe, Minister Tapia stressed the support and mentoring programme that her Ministry, in conjunction with the Basque Energy Board and Ihobe, has implemented, to working closely and provide ongoing advice to the local authority in the accelerated energy transition process in which those administrations are going to be immersed, along with the climate action that they may undertake. Three local councils – Leioa, Llodio and Tolosa – are already receiving that tailored advice.

Udalsarea 2030 achievements

Some other achievements of the members of the Udalsarea 2030 network during those 20 years are:

• Around fifty municipalities working on Local 2030 Agenda
• 25 Basque municipalities signed up to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy
• 55 Basque municipalities have prepared, have in place or are working on plans that address climate (mitigation and adaptation) and energy
• Other 38 municipalities have annually calculated the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and the Carbon Footprint of their local councils since 2016.

Following a participatory strategic process from here to 2025, the Udalsarea 2030 network aspires to be a necessary benchmark for Basque municipalities and authorities thanks to its advanced and innovative services, and to its contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly regarding climate neutrality and resilience, land protection and the circular economy.

The highlight of the event was the inspiring talk by Ramón Gras, a researcher in Urban Planning and Science of the Cities at Harvard University (USA) and co-founder of Aretian Urban Analytics and Design. Gras spoke about science applied to the design of cities and has explained how recent advances in the field of Science of the Cities allow highly complex urban challenges to be addressed. These include urban design, economic development strategies and to activate the knowledge economy, mobility, or the challenges relating to territorial sustainability, food and energy self-sufficiency, water and the environment.

Two decades serving local sustainability

The Udalsarea municipal network was set up in December 2002 with just 16 municipalities, as a coordination forum of the Basque public administrations to foster sustainability at municipal level. Over these twenty years, the network has held 60 meetings of the member local authorities that have shared initiatives and good practices in different areas, such as advanced home collection systems for organic matter, municipal climate action projects using nature-based solutions, food strategies and initiatives to reduce food waste in specific sectors, measures to fight against noise pollution, water quality, environmental health, education for sustainable development or gender equality.

Furthermore, 35 work groups, made up of sustainability technicians of the local entities, have been coordinated. During those meetings, they have analysed emerging themes such as climate action, green public procurement, biodiversity, environmental health and quality. The knowledge generated in those work groups have been set out in 21 monographic reports that are available to the Basque municipalities.

Since 2005, the network has been committed to driving a model to assess and monitoring the local sustainability plans and which is also aimed at accountability. The model has been consolidated, continues to be in force and has become a benchmark with over 10 programmes implemented to assess and monitor local policies.

Ihobe has been the secretary of the Basque Network of Sustainable Municipalities – Udalsarea 2030 since it was created.

New stage to 2025

Regarding this new stage, the Udalsarea 2030 has also shared the road map to steer its action to 2025. The new agreement unveiled today drives and coordinates the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in practical experiences of local action in the Basque Country; offers effective multilevel governance and interinstitutional cooperation; and makes Udalsarea 2030 into a technical platform and work forum.

Furthermore, the role of the presidency of the Basque Government is also highlighted as the driver of the agreement, along with the fact that the municipalities are centre stage and the supramunicipal authorities (supramunicipal councils, economic development agencies…) become full members and in turn key players of the network.

All the member entities, i.e., municipalities, supramunicipal authorities and counties, have undertaken to actively contribute to fulfilling the UN 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals by means of adapting and transforming their policies and management.

Additionally, given the network’s capacity to deploy initiative and reach citizens quickly, it will disseminate the Basque Green Deal, the model for fair and sustainable economic development driven by the Basque Government, at local level and among the members of the network.