SDG13 - Climate Action

Combatting Climate Change and its Impacts

Federica Doni, Andrea Gasperini, João Torres Soares

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781787569171
• Topic: Ciencias biológicas
• Subtopic: Ciencia medioambiental

SDG 13 aims to 'take urgent action to combat climate change and its impact'. This book demonstrates the potential for innovation in implementing SDG13 despite its associated challenges. The book features global success stories and uses empirical and science-based analysis to explore a wide range of practical implementation mechanisms, enabling conditions, and monitoring and reporting tools.
Concise Guides to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals comprises 17 short books, each examining one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The series provides an integrated assessment of the SDGs from economic, legal, social, environmental and cultural perspectives.

1

INTRODUCTION

It is not easy to live in a world of rapid and profound change. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) appeared, on the edge of the fourth technological revolution, to help and guide mankind’s efforts to avoid catastrophic scenarios for our own and future generations’ living conditions. By attempting to gather and synchronise all stakeholders around common goals and measurable targets, we hope to achieve the best balance for the world by 2030. At the very start, all statistical agencies were invited to harmonise working methods to achieve a reliable and compatible information database. This has been accomplished; now it is time to establish alignments and a common language for all, including those, who in their own homes want to contribute positively to this major global effort. The first step, set out in this chapter, is to make SDG 13 – ‘Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impact’ – clear to all. With this in mind, the authors have desegregated the concepts and looked for definitions in different research areas in order to create concepts that are as cross-cutting as possible. Our other main challenge was to express these concepts in simple, current and attractive language so that they may be read and understood by all, young and old, from the more educated to those who rely solely on their good, and will help humankind in this enormously significant task.

2

WHAT ARE THE GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS?

2.1. INTRODUCTION

This chapter aims to explain the SDGs’ approach for sustainable development by analysing in depth one of the most important sustainable goals, that is, SDG 13 ‘Combating climate change. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its consequences’. This goal constitutes one of the most effective actions to protect and preserve our planet from the consequences of climate change.

In the report published in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2013a, 2013b, 2014), a leading international organisation for the assessment of climate change, highlights that human influence on the climate is clear and recent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) are the highest in history. The urgent need to combat climate change is an increasing requirement for all countries in the world and can be supported by financial markets and institutions at a global level. The enormous pressure to stimulate financial mechanisms signals the importance to involve finance in accelerating the global process to SDGs and achievements.

In this context, the year 2015 was extraordinary for growing and widespread awareness about the events that preceded and followed the launch of the UN Agenda 2030, such as the publication of the Encyclical Letter Laudato Si by Pope Francis¹ (May 2015) and the Paris Agreement on climate change (Paris, December 2015). The attention from the financial system to environmental and social issues was stimulated by the Encyclical Letter ‘on the care of the common home’ published on 18 June 2015 which deals directly with the issues of the world of finance, its operations and practices, its relationship with the real economy and its impact in terms of social justice and environmental protection. The aim of this chapter is not to study and classify phenomena (even in moral terms) but to highlight the urgency of change and to push for action². This Encyclical Letter highlights that an energy supply system based on fossil fuels is primarily responsible for global warming and, therefore, for climate change:

[…] the climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all. At the global level, it is a complex system linked to many of the essential conditions for human life. A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system. In recent decades, this warming has been accompanied by a constant rise in the sea level and, it would appear, by an increase of extreme weather events, even if a scientifically determinable cause cannot be assigned to each particular phenomenon.

Humanity is stimulated to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it. It is true that there are other factors (such as volcanic activity, variations in the earth’s orbit and axis, the solar cycle), yet a number of scientific studies indicate that most global warming in recent decades is due to the great concentration of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides and others) released mainly as a result of human activity.

Concentrated in the atmosphere, these gases do not allow the warmth of the sun’s rays reflected by the earth to be dispersed in space. The problem has been exacerbated by a model of development based on the intensive use of fossil fuels, which is at the heart of the worldwide energy system. Another determining factor has been an increase in changed uses of the soil, principally deforestation for agricultural purposes. (LS 23)

The document emphasises the crucial role played by the field of finance in the transition to a low-carbon economy (Carbon Tracker Initiative, 2011, 2013; Carbon Tracker Initiative/Climate Disclosure Standards, 2016); it can support the development of initiatives in the field of renewable energy, proceeding step-by-step according to need to avoid imbalances and shock, as indicated by Pope Francis with respect to energy transition:

[…] we know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels – especially coal, but also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas – needs to be replaced immediately. Until greater progress is made in developing widely accessible sources of renewable energy, it is legitimate to choose the lesser of two evils or to find short-term solutions. (LS 165)

Hence, in September 2015, the world leaders of 193 countries met at the United Nations to approve 17 SDGs and 169 targets indicated in the UN paper Transforming our world. The 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. This document is aimed at promoting prosperity by the end of the year 2030 for everyone and a more sustainable path for our planet and economy.

Agenda 2030 states that:

[…] The Sustainable Development Goals and targets are integrated and indivisible, global in nature and universally applicable, taking into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development and respecting national policies and priorities. Targets are defined as aspirational and global, with each Government setting its own national targets guided by the global level of ambition but taking into account national circumstances. Each Government will also decide how these aspirational and global targets should be incorporated into national planning processes, policies and strategies. It is important to recognize the link between sustainable development and other relevant ongoing processes in the economic, social and environmental fields.

In this context, the concept of sustainable development was defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development in a document entitled Our Common Future within its Brundtland report. This document maintained that sustainable development should ensure prosperity and environmental protection without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs (UNWCED, 1987). It therefore combines economic development with social inclusion and environmental sustainability. The SDG targets enable governments, companies and investors to monitor their own progress in achieving these goals, which include ending poverty, eliminating hunger, addressing gender equality and combating the effects of climate change. SDGs can be categorised and described in different ways. For example, in the private sector, the company Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) provides one way of classifying the SDGs for investors by grouping them into five categories: basic needs, empowerment, climate change, natural capital and governance. This categorisation has been developed to provide a framework for evaluating whether companies’ business models and revenues relate to these categories rather than the 17 individual goals. Each category is linked to issues that can identify the SDGs. For example, the category ‘Basic needs’ is linked to ‘No poverty’ (SDG 1), ‘Zero hunger’ (SDG 2), ‘Good health & well-being’ (SDG 3), ‘Clean water & sanitation’ (SDG 4) and ‘Sustainable cities & communities’ (SDG 5) (UN SDGs, MSCI ESG Research, www.msci.com).

2.2. THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AGENDA 2030 AND THE SDGS: A GLOBAL AND NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

The SDGs are a continuation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) published by the United Nations in 2001, setting eight initiatives to improve the world focussing on social goals by 2015 (https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sdgoverview/mdg_goals.htm). Through the MDGs, parties attending the Summit in Rio de Janeiro (1992) committed their nations to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development.

Moving from the MDGs to the SDGs has highlighted some issues about their implementation at a global and national level. Successful implementation of the SDGs requires an intensive effort of international cooperation and a global commitment by many actors from countries all over the world. From this perspective, the SDGs show the ambition to stimulate world leaders together with all stakeholders in taking integrated actions with economic, social and environmental dimensions. International and national policymakers are expected to set frameworks, which enable new and enhanced collaborative global partnership between all actors to achieve the goals by mobilising all resources available and reshaping modes of production, consumption and living. Climate change is affecting everyone and everything around the world. However, those most vulnerable and impacted are also usually the ones living in the poorest countries or in regions often exposed to climate-related hazards and natural disasters. These categories, in turn, have more difficulty in moving resources to build stronger economies and safer, healthier and more livable societies. According to UN statistics, the change in global weather conditions is the major threat to sustainable development, such that 12 out of 17 SDGs require action on climate change to address the main subject of the goal, and Goal 13 is specifically dedicated to climate actions directed at reducing emissions and building climate resilience. Implementing policies and strategic plans to adapt and, where possible, mitigate climate change-related effects is the main priority of most nations attending the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Parties were to present every five years their ‘intended nationally determined contributions’ (INDCs). These represent the efforts each country has put into pursuing long-term goals, into reducing national emissions and preparing communities for the impact of climate change (UNFCC, 2014).

COP22, held in Marrakech, and COP23, hosted in Bonn in November 2017 and for the first time presided over by a small island developing state (SIDS; in this case by the Presidency of Fiji), further reinforced the parties’ commitment to taking urgent action across a number of social dimensions and, in particular, on climate change. The COP23 was the first summit after the election of the President of United States, Donald Trump, and his announcement to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. The shock and uncertainty that Trump’s decision has provoked on the future of the Paris Agreement, on funds available for climate mitigation and future cooperation, especially among US allies and countries dependent on the United States has been dramatic. Trump’s presidency has undermined the collaborative partnerships and relationships established since Rio Earth Summit. Furthermore, it has threatened the success of years of meetings and efforts. Nevertheless, federal states (with the autonomy to take action on climate change, e.g., California), cities and many companies in the United States are sensitive to climate change-related issues and are committing themselves by implementing adaptation plans, as well as building partnerships and demanding cleaner energy.

However, the rate of climate change, together with other indicators of global well-being, is alarming. Further measures should be implemented, in order to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy and to remedy, as soon as possible, those difficult conditions that worsen and exacerbate the impact of natural disasters, crises and food and water scarcities (Mpandeli et al., 2018). Some important global trends are crucial as they can challenge and further threaten the implementation of policies for sustainable development, as well as the achievement of the SDG targets. However, they can offer significant opportunities for strengthening multilateral partnership and global participation, also for improving and adapting technology and science in seeking solutions to global issues.

2.3. ACTIONS TO IMPLEMENT THE SDGS

The project has this essential aim: ‘leave one no behind’. The main difficulty will therefore be its concrete realisation or, more specifically, moving ‘from agreement to action’. In other words, it will be important to identify the operational and technical tools that can support different countries in achieving the various goals. Concrete action to support governments can be provided by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as the United Nations have to monitor progress in relation to the objectives and verify the adoption of certain policies by states that are based on evidence-based decisions. In essence, the OECD has to provide innovative statistical methods and systems capable of capturing the radical change that the launch of the SDGs is bringing about in many countries. Through analysis of the various SDGs, it is possible to highlight that many of the goals are complex, interrelated and characterised by multiple issues. Hence, achieving the objectives may be conditioned by the possibility of obtaining data from new sources that allow for more detailed and ‘granular’ information.

To this end, a working group was set up between the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016, joined by 28 countries and supported by some observers, including the OECD, which developed a global framework of indicators including around 230 new specific metrics designed for reaching all the goals and targets. Quantifying the SDGs can be perceived as a challenge, since no country is able to access all the data needed to calculate the various indicators. At a global level, progress achieved has to be closely monitored; official reports have to be drawn up and debates carried out in relation to the various policies have to be adopted. Furthermore, on thematic, regional and national levels, reports will have to be prepared, including follow-ups and reviews of the SDGs, and the OECD is collaborating in different countries to facilitate and strengthen the collection of data, in particular on environmental and governance issues. On a national level, it will then be important for each country to be able to implement and adapt the global objectives to the situ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• 1. Introduction
• 2. What are the Global Sustainable Development Goals?
• 3. What is the SDG 13?
• 4. Climate Change Trends: Understanding SDG 13 Local Agenda and Key Interactions Frameworks
• 5. Practical Tools and Mechanisms for SDG 13 Implementation
• 6. Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting on SDG 13 Implementation
• 7. Conclusions
• Appendix
• References
• Index