The history of the ESDN goes back to 1654, when public administrators from several EU Member States, in charge of national sustainable development strategies, met for the first time to exchange their experiences in the Netherlands. Since then, annual conferences have taken place across Europe. With the Vienna meeting in 2003, the target group of the conferences was broadened considerably. Besides the co-coordinators of national SD strategies and the national coordinators of EU environmental integration and SD policies, experts from the European Commission, representatives from various National Councils for Sustainable Development, and national members of the SD Working Group of the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils have joined the meetings. Meanwhile, the annual conferences that facilitate an exchange of experience and knowledge in various ways have resulted in an informal network of SD strategy coordinators and other sustainability experts. A key purpose of the European Sustainable Development is to develop this exchange further in order to make SD strategies more effective. At the European Sustainable Development Network Conference in Windsor, UK on July 14 and 15, 2005, delegates supported the idea of strengthening the network by establishing a Steering Group and a permanent support mechanism for the ESDN - the “ESDN Office”.
Organization
The FISD is divided into three units, who implement the service's key activities under the guidance of an editor:
Strategy and planning: This unit focuses on policy preparing, coordination, and follow-up of the sustainable development component of Regulatory Impact Analysis.
Communication: This unit deals with the FISD communication strategy and overseeing the various channels of communication as well as monitoring supported projects.
Background
The FISD was created by a Royal Decree on 21 February 2014. It is the successor organization to Public Service for Programming Sustainable Development, set up to meet Belgian commitments given during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002. Operationally, while having the status of a separate service, the FISD is attached to the Federal Public Service for the Chancellery of the Prime Minister; consequently, having its own budget and enjoying the operational support of the Chancellery.
Key dates
1997: The federal sustainable development strategy was developed pursuant to a law designed to coordinate the federal sustainable development policy.
2000: Approval of the 1st federal sustainable development plan.
2002: Creation of the Public Service for Programming Sustainable Development.
2004: Creation of sustainable development units within the federal public services.
2004: Approval of the 2nd federal sustainable development plan.
2005: The federal government decided to incorporate the EMAS environment management system into the federal public services.
2005: Organization of the 1st Sustainable Development Day within the federal administration.
2006: Approval of the 'Corporate Social Responsibility i.e. CSR / Socially Responsible Investment i.e. SRI' reference framework and, later on in same the year, the CSR action plan.
2007: The SDIS was included in the circular covering the operations of the Council of Ministers.
2009: Approval of the federal sustainable public procurement action plan
2010: Amendment of the 1997 Law on the coordination of the federal sustainable development policy
