Application of the SDG Impact Assessment Tool in municipalities

Botkyrka municipality has tested whether the SDG Impact Assessment Tool could be used to conduct sustainability assessments in the process of developing a new comprehensive plan for the municipality. The purpose has been to explore whether analyses carried out in the tool could broaden the sustainability perspectives in the planning process and constitute a way to continuously work with such perspectives throughout the process. 

Current Swedish legislation only requires municipalities to conduct an environmental impact assessment of the proposals in the plan at the end of the planning process. A goal for Botkyrka municipality has been to establish a method to include sustainability analyses earlier in the process, allowing such analyses to form basis for decision-making and highlight knowledge gaps along the way. 

At the start of the pilot project, Botkyrka was at the initial stages of developing a new comprehensive plan for the municipality. Using the SDG Impact Assessment Tool on actual planning strategies within the upcoming plan was hence not possible at that time. However, a test investigating if application of the tool could fit into the upcoming process was conducted. Two municipal officers initially applied the SDG Impact Assessment Tool to a part of the municipality’s current comprehensive plan to familiarize themselves with the tool.  

As a next step, a workshop was conducted where an additional 6-7 municipal officers applied the tool on one of the goals in the current comprehensive plan, specifically the goal "Live Climate Smart". The officers participating in the workshop were all strategic urban planners or sustainability strategists with different focuses. 

The workshop’s approach was inspired by the method used in Strängnäs municipality, where the assessment for each goal began with collecting arguments to identify all potential impacts on the SDGs. The two officers facilitating the workshop had prepared the workshop by developing relevant discussion questions for each goal in advance. 

Since the work with developing a new comprehensive plan was at its initial stages during the pilot project, it was not possible for Botkyrka to further test the use of the tool within the process during the pilot project's timeframe. However, after the test, the SDG Impact Assessment Tool was considered a possible tool for conducting sustainability assessments during the upcoming planning process.

Korsholm municipality has analyzed the municipality’s current climate- and energy strategy for the years 2021-2030 using the SDG Impact Assessment Tool. Two municipal officers jointly led the work with evaluating the strategy and coordinating the process of applying the tool. 

Initially, a preparatory phase was carried out, where the two officers themselves made a preliminary assessment of the strategy using the tool. Subsequently, a series of in-depth workshops were organized in groups with selected representatives from various departments within the municipality. 

Korsholm’s climate and energy strategy consists of five parts – Energy supply, Land use and construction, Provision of services, Traffic and transportation, and Knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. A workshop was conducted for each part of the strategy, inviting representatives from the departments in the municipality with the primary responsibility for each respective part. 

The workshops were based on the preliminary assessment carried out in the preparatory phase, which the workshop participants could then comment on, revise and supplement during the in-depth workshop sessions.  

Each workshop involved approximately 5–8 individuals per department and occasion, and participating departments included urban development, the municipal board administration, education, and municipal development, among others. Notes from the workshop sessions were collected and compiled, and the material was also presented to the municipality's Sustainable Development Team. 

After all workshops have been completed, one last session remained at the closure of the pilot project, a summary will be compiled based on the information gathered during the workshop sessions. The summary will constitute a crucial material for Korsholm in the upcoming review of the climate and energy strategy that is planned for 2024. 

The decision to review the strategy had already been taken before the pilot project, but according to the participants, this need has become even more clear during the work of carrying out SDG impact assessments of the strategy, as several new important perspectives and conclusions that had not previously been considered have emerged during the process. 

Kungälv municipality has used the SDG Impact Assessment Tool to analyze how an in-depth comprehensive plan for the development of Kode, an urban area within the municipality with a stop on a regionally important train route, impacts the SDGs. The purpose of the in-depth plan is to develop and clarify the overarching goal for Kode of a sustainable station community and includes a plan for how the area should develop going forward. 

A group of municipal officers have collaborated to conduct the assessment of the in-depth plan using the SDG Impact Assessment Tool. Since previously, the plan included a brief outline of which of the SDGs that the plan relates to, and the assessment in the tool was hence carried out to facilitate a more detailed discussion and deeper analysis of which SDGs and targets are impacted and how. 

The working group that collectively conducted the assessment in the tool comprised comprehensive planners, urban planners, a planning architect, and a traffic strategist. The assessment in the tool resulted in several revisions to the previous descriptions of the connections between the in-depth plan for Kode and the SDGs. 

In Strängnäs municipality, the SDG Impact Assessment Tool has been applied in three different municipal processes. The first application involved an assessment of a decision to construct a third highway exit to Strängnäs. 

Two municipal officers were responsible for the process and facilitated two workshop sessions to conduct the assessment. During the first session, officers from various departments with a wide range of expertise, including environmental strategists, conservationists, public transportation managers, and infrastructure planners, gathered for a one-hour workshop. The goal of the first workshop was to bring forth all possible arguments regarding the potential positive or negative impacts that the new highway exit might have on the SDGs.  

After the workshop, the two facilitators tested the arguments against existing knowledge and structured the identified impact into the categories in the tool. Subsequently, a second workshop was held with the same individuals to review the processed material. 

In this way, what the method refers to as step 4, ”Assess your impact” (see subsection “Approach and method” above), was divided into two steps: a ‘brainstorming step’ aimed at collecting all possible arguments, and a second step where these arguments were either accepted or rejected based on whether they could be supported by facts, as well as categorized according to the method in the tool.  

In addition to this application, Strängnäs municipality has also used the SDG Impact Assessment Tool in similar manners to conduct sustainability assessments of the public procurement of food within the municipality, and of the construction of a new old people’s home. 

Tjörn municipality has used the SDG Impact Assessment Tool to analyze impacts on the SDGs in several smaller processes within the municipality. This was done in order to explore whether the tool potentially could be useful to apply as a support in larger processes at a later stage.  

One municipal officer has been responsible for coordinating the process of testing the tool in the municipality. Two major processes were underway in the municipality during the pilot project – the development of a new strategy for social sustainability and a new strategy for climate and energy.  

One initial opportunity identified in the municipality was therefore to use analyses conducted in the SDG Impact Assessment Tool in the two upcoming processes. Since then, the work with a new strategy for social sustainability has been paused, but the development of a new strategy for climate and energy is still relevant. 

To gain a better understanding of the tool and evaluate its suitability in the upcoming strategy process, the SDG Impact Assessment Tool was used to analyze a proposal of introducing a youth council in the municipality. Various functions within the municipality gathered to collaboratively assess the proposal in the tool.  

The analysis shed light on several perspectives not previously considered, providing valuable input for the statement on the proposal.  

Furthermore, the tool was used as a method and support in conducting an internal cross-sectoral sustainability analysis of material in an ongoing working process with the municipality’s comprehensive plan. The analysis was conducted collaboratively by a small group of municipal officers, and it was perceived as a fruitful way to jointly discuss material connected to the comprehensive plan from various sustainability perspectives.  

In sum, Tjörn municipality has started using the SDG Impact Assessment Tool in various municipal processes throughout the pilot project and foresees that the tool will be useful in larger processes going forward.