Who: main actors of the system and governance

The National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS) aims to strengthen and to enable multi-level and multi-stakeholder collaboration, ensuring an overall working method based on inter-institutional, vertical and horizontal collaboration.

The governance of the National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS) is defined by the reference regulations, with particular regard to the CIPE Resolution approving the NSDS of 2017 (Resolution 108/2017); to the Legislative Decree 152/2006 and subsequent amendments, art. 34; to the CITE Resolution of 18 September approving the renewed NSDS and the attached National Action Plan for Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (NAP PCSD).

The Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (MASE) is responsible for the overall implementation, monitoring and review process of the NSDS at national level, including the involvement of civil society and other central and territorial administrations, in order to ensure the alignment of national policies with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to ensure their territorial deployment.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) is responsible for coordinating the external dimension of the Strategy, through the Three-year Programming and Policy planning Document.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) is responsible for ensuring alignment with the economic-financial planning documents.

The Inter-ministerial Committee for Economic Planning and Sustainable Development (CIPESS) is responsible for approving the Funding Programme for supporting NSDS implementation. Moreover, the Ministry of Environment annually gives information to CIPESS about the carried out activities through the "Annual Report on the implementation of NSDS”. 

The Inter-ministerial Committee for Ecological Transition (CITE) is responsible for approving the three-year review of the NSDS.

The National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), together with National Statistical System (SISTAN), is called by the United Nations Statistical Commission to play an active role in the production of statistical measures for monitoring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (ISTAT SDGs).

The NSDS ensures a whole-of-government approach, and thus encourages a wide institutional participation through the central level for the NSDS implementation and monitoring process:

• MASE, MEF, MAECI and the Departments of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, together with ISTAT and the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) cooperate in the selection and update of the indicators useful for monitoring the Strategy. With the same purpose, MASE collaborates with the Department for Cohesion Policies and with the Mission Unit of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) at the State General Accounting Office.
• Line Ministries and the Departments of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers cooperate in ensuring the whole implementation of the National Sustainable Development Strategy, for a better alignment and policy integration. With the same purpose, MASE directly collaborates with the Department for Regional Affairs and Autonomies, the Department for Cohesion Policies, the Department for Legal and Legislative Affairs, the Public Function Department, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and other national institutes and agencies.
• Regional and Local governments, in particular Regions, Autonomous Provinces and Metropolitan Cities, are at the core of the localization of SDGs and develop and implement their own Sustainable Development Strategies, to be coherent with the National one. They are involved in a permanent dialogue with MASE and with each other, to ensure vertical collaboration among different levels of government, and horizontal collaboration among territorial governments, on sustainable development and policy coherence issues.

The NSDS ensures also a whole-of-society approach and thus encourages stakeholder engagement for the NSDS implementation and monitoring process:

• Civil society and non-state actors’ participation is ensured in the NSDS implementation, monitoring and review process and, more in general, in sustainable development issues.
• Academia, universities and research institutes are engaged through research projects and pilot actions aimed to support the NSDS implementation at national and territorial level.
• Partnerships are established with international and European institutions, such as UN Habitat, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), The European Sustainable Development Network (ESDN), the European Commission.