Climate Action

No country is immune to the drastic effects of climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions have increased by more than 50 percent since 1990, causing global warming that brings long-lasting changes to our climate system and threatens irreversible consequences if we do not act. The annual average economic losses from climate-related disasters are in the hundreds of billions of dollars, not to mention the human impact: between 1998 and 2017, geo-physical disasters killed 1.3 million people and left 4.4 billion injured.

This goal aims to mobilize US$100 billion annually by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries to both adapt to climate change and invest in low-carbon development. Supporting vulnerable regions will directly contribute not only to Goal 13 but also to the other SDGs. These actions must also go hand in hand with efforts to integrate disaster risk measures, sustainable natural resource management, and human security into national development strategies.

It is still possible, with strong political will, increased investment, and using existing technology, to limit the increase in global mean temperature to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, aiming at 1.5°C. However, this requires urgent and ambitious collective action. This goal aims to strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.

Additionally, it seeks to integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning. It focuses on improving education, awareness-raising, and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning. Furthermore, it calls for implementing the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to mobilize jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries.