CADS

Name: Advisory Council for the Sustainable Development of Catalonia (Consell Assessor per al Desenvolupament Sostenible, CADS)

Established in: 1998 (The Advisory Council for the Sustainable Development of Catalonia has been continuously active since then)

Role: the council is the strategic advisory body of the Government of Catalunya in the field of sustainability, and it develops this task through the consultation and participation of experts and the civil society. Reports and proposals launched by council are issued both at the request of the Government and at their own initiative.

Duties: The Council is tasked to: a) Advise Government in the area of sustainable development and, particularly, on the integration of sustainability in policies, territorial and sectorial urban planning instruments, on legislative and regulatory projects, as well as strategic projects or initiatives promoted by the Government. b) Analyse the strategic polices for sustainable development promoted by the Government, especially with regard to energy, water, food safety, climate change and the green economy, and formulate proposals in these areas. c) Promote the transfer of knowledge and dialogue between the Government, the academic world and civil society in the area of sustainable development. d) Advise the Government on the design and execution of actions to promote education on sustainability. e) Promote the involvement of economic and social sectors in Catalonia’s sustainable development process. Since 2017 the Advisory Council for Sustainable Development of Catalonia is supporting, by mandate of the Government of Catalonia, the High-level Political Commission and the Technical Committee in charge of the elaboration of the National Plan for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Catalonia. Together with the Statistical Institute of Catalonia, the council works on the official set of SDGs indicators in Catalonia, using the Eurostat set of SDGs indicators. Fulfilling a mandate of the Parliament of Catalonia from November 2018, the Advisory Council for the Sustainable Development of Catalonia is due to appear twice yearly in the Parliament of Catalonia to give its opinion in the attainment of the SDGs in Catalonia.

Composition: CADS has 1 president and 15 council members. All council members are acknowledged experts with a variety of backgrounds. Council members are appointed ad-personam and express their views on an independent and individual basis. The council may create groups of experts in specific areas, whether on a steady or one-off basis. The recommendations made by the groups of expert individuals are purely consultative for the council.

The secretariat: CADS has a secretariat that includes 6 staff members.