SDG Action was launched in 2021 by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) to support the UN’s Decade of Action. Its aim is to encourage cross-sector dialogue and problem solving to accelerate the transition to sustainability.
Climate — Global
Despite many countries announcing more ambitious political commitments to net-zero, the policies and actions announced to date fall woefully short of achieving 1.5°C. We must rapidly increase the transition to renewable energy if we’re to avert climate catastrophe
Europe must now redouble efforts to become self-sufficient in energy, with the focus squarely on renewables
Our current state of economic development has been built on burning carbon. To achieve the SDGs, or even just retain what we have, that link needs to be broken – ‘decoupled’. The decoupling process has started but will need to be total
Off-grid and mini-grid electricity generation can bring immediate benefits across the SDGs. They offer a least-cost approach to electrification, yet investment in them remains limited. What needs to happen to ensure these technologies play their full part in tackling energy poverty?
In most developed countries, renewable energy siting has been plagued with delays, contract extensions, and “NIMBY” protests. Project developers and government planning agencies must be transparent and inclusive in their decision-making to gain public support and reduce the environmental and social negative spillover effects of energy expansion projects
Conversations on energy transition tend to focus on renewable generation or the end-user. However, too often, the complex systems that are required to connect the two are neglected. Relying on ‘the market’ to develop solutions risks being too slow and inequitable. Governments need to get their heads round the radical changes that must be made to create resilient, sustainable energy networks – it is down to governments to drive the energy transition forward
Global development finance has been thrown into disarray – first by the pandemic and now the war in Ukraine. Ramping up finance flows to LDCs in the short term might appear unrealistic, but it is more essential than ever if we’re to avoid even greater catastrophes ahead
All 1.5°C global warming scenarios call for carbon removal. Natural systems provide the most readily available mechanisms, so how can these be boosted to the levels required?
In 2022 we should aspire to a Paris-style agreement on restoring biodiversity. Ambition alone, articulated in several published pledges, is not enough: governments must now commit to a strengthened Global Biodiversity Framework that compels them to take meaningful action
Plastic waste is at crisis point, causing untold harm to wildlife and poisoning food chains. A new plastics treaty could help turn the tide and avoid irreversible damage to species and ecosystems – countries must take bold action now
The response to climate change needs to be based on science and accurate, timely data. In most cases, the data is available. A greater challenge is ensuring that the right people have it and know how to use it.
We are fortunate to possess an abundance of data that alerts us to the nature and potential impact of climate threats and that can also guide our response. We are not effectively using this knowledge. The human barriers slowing progress must be removed
SDGs: 13
Without accurate data on emissions, we cannot take actions to curb them – countries must do more on monitoring and reporting
COP26 will inspire new efforts to reach the ambitious SDG targets by 2030. Earth observation data from Copernicus will help us achieve these goals
Restoring the ocean’s health is vital to achieving many of the SDGs, as humankind will need the ocean to provide more food, energy, and jobs. Perhaps less well understood – but critical for our survival – is the vital role a healthy ocean will play in SDG 13: tackling climate change
After nearly a century of believing that engineering solutions could conquer nature to make cities productive and efficient centers of socio-economic development, some urban planners now realize that nature is something to design with, not against. But how do we invite nature back in when cities have been built to keep nature out?
