The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has been announced as an official partner for Mannheim2020, the upcoming ninth edition of the European Conference for Sustainable Cities & Towns, taking place in ICLEI Member Mannheim (Germany) from 30 September to 2 October 2020.

Over the last 25 years, the conference series has offered cities and urban stakeholders a platform for inspiration, to take action and to commit to taking sustainability to the next level. The conference series, with editions held about every three years, calls for the acceleration of bottom-up action and change, and acts as a multi-level interface between the European Union and sustainability action at local level.

Past editions have led to landmark documents, such as the Aalborg Charter (1994), Aalborg Commitments (2004), and Basque Declaration (2016).

The world is facing major environmental, economic and social challenges that require a substantial transformation in all aspects of society. Implementation of the transformation requires courageous leadership and action from all levels of government, the private sector, and, critically, from civil society.

As “the voice of organised civil society in Europe,” EESC is perfectly positioned to bring invaluable insights and support to Mannheim2020. The EESC enables and empowers civil society organisations working across a wide range of sectors – including climate change, energy, the environment, and social affairs – to express themselves at the European level. It acts as a bridge between governance levels, thereby ensuring multi-level integration and the cooperative action we need.

“The EESC brings together civil society and the European level to build change and forge a more sustainable Europe,” said Peter Schmidt, President of the Sustainable Development Observatory (SDO) of the EESC. “Mannheim2020 thereby supports our core philosophy and work. We are proud to be an official partner for this impactful event, which promises to drive positive change for sustainability.”

Mayors, local government practitioners, civil society and all other urban stakeholders, business, national governments and European institutions will gather in Mannheim to help transform Europe for a secure and sustainable future.

For more information on the upcoming event, click here.