Sustainability Coordinators' Conference (SCC)

Sustainable development requires looking beyond borders – on the one hand, beyond the boundaries of sectors, fields, and institutions, and on the other hand, beyond the boundaries between different political levels. Only if the European Union (EU), the federal government, the federal states, and the municipalities pull together – that is, act in a well-coordinated manner – can the path toward sustainable development be pursued in a targeted, efficient, and effective way.

Sustainability as a joint responsibility

In May 1999, the provincial environmental councillors and the then Federal Minister for the Environment adopted the “Joint Declaration on the Further Development of Environmental Policy in Austria.” With this, the alignment of environmental policy with the principles of sustainability was agreed upon throughout Austria. In addition, it was determined that each provincial government and the ministry responsible for environmental issues would assign a "suitable body to coordinate an environmental policy aimed at sustainable development and ensure the necessary organizational requirements for this task."

To support coordination between the federal states and the federal government, the Sustainability Coordinators' Conference (NHK-K) – a joint working group of the federal states and the federal government – was established at the Conference of Provincial Environmental Councillors in 2000.

The aim of the NHK-K is to develop joint sustainability activities, elaborate common strategies, prepare decisions for the Conference of Provincial Environmental Councillors, and produce reports. The exchange of information and experience is also a key element of these meetings. In this way, many cooperations have already been initiated and successfully implemented through the Conference of Provincial Governors and the Conference of Provincial Environmental Councillors.

As early as 2009, the NHK-K was tasked with coordinating the further development and implementation of the “Austrian Strategy for Sustainable Development” (ÖSTRAT).

In January 2016, the federal government decided to implement the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015, in and through Austria, and instructed the federal ministries to particularly involve the subnational authorities at the provincial, city, and municipal levels in this process.

In the following years, the Conference of Provincial Environmental Councillors issued a series of decisions assigning relevant tasks to the NHK-K for the implementation of the Agenda and initiated the involvement of the SDG Focal Points of the provinces in this joint platform of the federal government and the states.

Through the federal-state working group “Shaping the Future Locally”, the NHK-K also makes essential contributions to the coordination of local and regional sustainability processes and ensures the network for integrating municipalities and regions in the local implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

The chairmanship of the NHK-K rotates regularly among the provinces and is exercised jointly with the federal government (co-chairmanship). The federal co-chair is composed of representatives of the Federal Ministry for Climate Action and the Federal Chancellery (BKA).