City of Sacramento 2024 Voluntary Local Review on the UN Sustainable Development Goals
The 2024 Voluntary Local Review (VLR) on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the City of Sacramento maps Sacramento’s 2040 General Plan and Climate Action & Adaptation Plan to the 17 SDGs and its underlying principles. This is a collaborative project between the City of Sacramento and UC Davis. The VLR demonstrates that long-range city planning provides a unique opportunity to connect shared local and global goals, and that university-city partnerships can play an important role in this effort.
Advancing Sustainable Development Goals
"The SDGs represent a shared vision for a more sustainable, equitable, and inclusive world. This collaboration underscores our commitment to not only recognize the transformative power of these global objectives but also actively contribute to their realization locally, within the fabric of Sacramento. "
-Gary S. May, UC Davis Chancellor and Darrell Steinberg, City of Sacramento Mayor
Read the full letter from Chancellor May and Mayor Steinberg
Summary
In 2015, the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by all UN member states around the world. The 2030 Agenda and the 17 were developed as a blueprint for people, prosperity and planet. The 2030 Agenda, which integrates social, economic and environmental goals, is not just the responsibility of national governments. Achieving the 2030 Agenda requires actions and partnerships at many different levels. Local communities and municipalities are on the front lines of complex global challenges, and local communities are the places where innovative solutions often emerge.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which established the SDGs, encourages regular and inclusive reviews of progress at both the national and sub-national levels.
In addition to Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) that have been prepared by many countries, a growing number of cities and municipalities are developing Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) to align the SDGs with local needs and priorities and to report on progress toward the goals. VLRs have also been completed at the sub-national level in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. At the time of this publication, New York City, Los Angeles, Orlando, Pittsburgh and the state of Hawaii have developed VLRs in the United States.
- The full 2024 Voluntary Local Review will be released in fall 2024.
About this Project
In 2023, UC Davis and the City of Sacramento decided to jointly complete a VLR for Sacramento. UC Davis completed its first Voluntary University Review (VUR) in 2021 and has developed a strong focus on advancing the SDGs across campus and with partners around the globe. In the 2021 UC Davis VUR, one of the follow up actions was to strengthen partnerships on the SDGs locally and in California, including joint development of VLRs with local partners.
When this project began, the City of Sacramento was preparing its 2040 General Plan and Climate Action & Adaptation Plan and engaging in extensive outreach throughout the Sacramento community to inform the plans. The priorities of residents, businesses, non-profits, and other stakeholders in Sacramento were closely connected with principles and goals in the 2030 Agenda. This was a moment to bring together university and city experience to articulate how local challenges and priorities connect to shared global commitments.
Cities in California are required to revise general plans periodically and include themes that relate closely with the SDGs. It is anticipated that this project and the resulting VLR can be a model for other California cities that are updating their general plans, and cities across the U.S. and in other countries as they review and update their own long-range planning documents. Long-range planning at the city level provides a unique opportunity to align local and global goals.
This VLR maps the process and outcomes of Sacramento’s 2040 General Plan and Climate Action & Adaptation Plan to the global goals and the key principles. The collaborative UC Davis-Sacramento process demonstrates the value of more robust connections and partnership opportunities between universities and the cities and municipalities in their regions. Universities and cities both have central roles to play in achieving the SDGs. Bringing their expertise together can help inform and accelerate collective progress on these goals.
About the Report
This VLR includes a snapshot of each of the 17 SDGs in the Sacramento context. Each of the SDG chapters highlights some of the key challenges for each goal globally and locally in Sacramento and presents examples of the solutions that the city is developing and implementing to achieve the goal.
Reflecting Key Principles of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
In addition to the 17 SDGs, it is also important to recognize that there are key principles of the 2030 Agenda that are meant to flow across all of the goals. First, the SDGs are intended to be interconnected. The 2030 Agenda states that the goals are “integrated and indivisible and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental.” Second, the 2030 Agenda rests on a pledge that no one will be left behind. The principle of No One Left Behind, as it has become known, must apply to all of the SDGs and is closely connected with the priority that the 2030 Agenda places on human rights for all and gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls. Finally, the 2030 Agenda recognizes eradicating poverty as the greatest global challenge and that sustainable development is not possible without achieving this goal (SDG1).
The front section of this report focuses on several priority areas for the City of Sacramento that cross all SDGs and support these principles. This VLR highlights the centrality of community and neighborhood engagement with a focus on those communities that are hardest to reach. The City of Sacramento is also striving to integrate diversity, equity and inclusion across the city administration and through the programs and services that it offers.
Cross-Cutting Approaches to Multiple SDGs and Targets
The City of Sacramento is working on a multitude of approaches to address the cross-cutting principles of the 2030 Agenda, and often initiatives, projects and programs are contributing to multiple SDGs at the same time for Sacramento communities. In the front section of the report, a number of examples are offered, including supporting the full involvement of youth participation and the vital role of arts and culture. Both of these areas are critical to achieving the SDGs. This VLR offers key insights based on opportunities, challenges, and lessons learned in moving the city forward in sustainable and equitable ways.
This VLR also provides a mapping of the SDGs and official SDG targets to the relevant elements of Sacramento’s 2040 General Plan (appendix). This mapping demonstrates the linkages between specific local issues and global goals and targets, which is necessary for tracking overall progress on the 2030 Agenda.
The Sacramento VLR is a first step in explicitly connecting the priorities for the City of Sacramento to the shared global goals in the 2030 Agenda. This is anticipated to provide a baseline for future collaborative work between the City of Sacramento and UC Davis to advance the SDGs in Sacramento, and to inspire, inform and support other cities and universities to engage in similar joint efforts.
