In September 2023, the UN released the Report: Synergy solutions for a world in crisis: tackling climate and SDG action together (Report on Strengthening the Evidence Base - First Edition 2023). Co-convened by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC), this report owes its existence to this enduring and productive partnership, shared vision, and collaborative spirit. Guided by their overarching vision, this report is the culmination of the independent work of the Expert Group on Climate and SDG Synergy.
The Report brings a critical message at a critical time: We must solve the climate emergency and sustainable development challenges together, or we will not solve them at all. Halfway to the deadline for the 2030 Agenda, a mere 15 percent of SDG targets are on track. The climate crisis is worsening as greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. Catastrophic and intensifying heat waves, droughts, flooding and wildfires have become far too frequent.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for an urgent course correction, stating that “climate action is the 21st century's greatest opportunity to drive forward all the Sustainable Development Goals" and urging world leaders to come together behind a rescue plan for people and planet — a rallying cry for synergistic action.
The key messages of the Report were:
1. Seeking win-win synergies by tackling the climate and sustainable development crises together is the only way to correct the course we are on.
2. The vast pool of existing evidence underscores that the Paris goals and the SDGs are mutually re-enforcing and one cannot be achieved without the other.
3. Progress away from siloed approaches and towards integrated planning, implementation, and reporting is underway but needs to move much faster.
4. Synergies are highly dependent on national priorities and context.
5. The way forward – A 'framework for action' to foster systemic change
The recommendations of the Report were:
1. Enhance collective resilience against current and future global crises through collaboration and cooperation with international organizations and their partners.
2. Strengthen science-policy-society interaction to advance synergistic action.
3. Promote institutional capacity building and cross-sectoral and international collaboration at national, institutional, and individual levels, especially for the Global South.
4. Ensure policy coherence and coordination among policy makers across sectors and departments for enhancing climate and development synergies at the national, sub-national, and multi-national levels.
5. Develop a ‘framework for action’ that can help decision makers in public, private, and civil society sectors identify synergistic action for systems change.
6. Use the ‘framework for action’, to ensure a just transition.
7. Address the large investment gaps in the climate and development agendas to enhance the necessary synergies and lead to the effective allocation of national budgets.
8. Utilize the UNFCCC COP 28 (Climate Change Conference) in Dubai to initiate and accelerate synergistic action on climate and SDGs and make it an essential part of reporting by Parties.
9. Prioritize the role of synergies in the work of the UN and international financial institutions, including an improved system for sharing information to help countries in their reporting responsibilities, enhanced cross-sectoral engagement in the UN’s intergovernmental and capacity building efforts, and focused attention on climate and development synergies as well as climate resilient development pathways in the IPCC Assessment Report.
10. Treat cities, sites of major population growth and expansion of economic activities, as an opportunity for focusing on climate and development synergies.
No comments:
Post a Comment