On Friday in New York, countries will adopt a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will guide global development up to 2030.
The SDGs take the form of 17 goals, accompanied by 169 targets that give precise information about what should be achieved.
They do not skimp on ambition. If countries succeed in meeting the goals, by 2030 there will be an end to poverty, hunger, child labour, AIDS and various other problems that blight millions of lives globally.
Climate change plays an important role in what the UN is calling the "post-2015 development agenda". "Sustainable development" - a notoriously difficult term to define - becomes impossible unless global temperature rise is tackled, according to the final document:
"Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time and its adverse impacts undermine the ability of all countries to achieve sustainable development."
Not only has climate change been given its own, dedicated target, but it is also integrated into almost all of the other goals. Many of the targets directly reference the need to tackle climate change and its impacts in some form or another.
For the complete article, please see Carbon Brief.
Peatlands cover about 3% of the Earth’s land area, store huge amounts of carbon, and provide habitats for diverse flora and fauna. The recent UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, has adopted its first ever resolution on peatlands. A groundbreaking step!
The European Commission, backed by 11 EU member states, refused to sign a declaration on “sustainable and smart gas infrastructure” tabled by the Romanian Presidency earlier this week because the text wasn’t ambitious enough on climate change, Euractiv has learned.
The Planetary Security Conference brings together experts, policy makers and politicians from around the world to discuss how best to tackle the security risks of climate change. The conference also reports on progress towards meeting the ambitions of The Hague Declaration which set out an action agenda for the community of practice on climate security. This year we spent some time interviewing some of the participants to get their insights into how climate change affects international and human security.
As the May 2019 EU elections loom and a new European Commission takes office, climate action can become a key driver of a reformed EU project for more solidarity, protection and innovation, writes Luca Bergamaschi, Senior Associate at E3G.