SDG Asia Workshop

Climate Action (SDG 13)

	Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting national economies and affecting lives, costing people, communities and countries dearly today and even more tomorrow.

• An overview of SDG 13 URL

  Objectives: by the end of this module, you should be able to:

  • know what Climate Change is;
  • know the background of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;
    
  • have the basic knowledge of climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning;
  • identify the impacts of climate change on your community and the world;
  • know what other places are doing to mitigate and adapt to Climate Change;
  • formulate your own vision of how to meet the SDG13 targets

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

• Let's get a bit deeper URL

  
  

• Climate Change 101 URL

  Learn about the science behind Climate Change. What causes Climate Change and what will happen?

  
  

  
  

• Why SDG13 matters File 203.3KB PDF document
• Why do we need to take urgent action to tackle climate change and its impacts? URL

  • Climate change is caused by human activities and is threatening the way we live and the future of our planet.
    

  
  

  
  

• Are people’s lives really being affected by climate change? URL

  • Yes. Severe weather and rising sea levels are affecting people and their property in developed and developing countries. From a small farmer in the Philippines to a businessman in London, climate change is affecting everyone, especially the poor and vulnerable, as well as marginalized groups like women, children, and the elderly.
    

  
  

• How much would it cost to solve this problem? URL

  • The way to think about it is not in terms of how expensive it will be, but how much it will cost if we don’t take action. Investments are made every day —shifting these investments to address climate change make sense.
    

  
  

  
  

• The targets, figures and goals of SDG 13 Page

  http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/climate-change-2/
  

  
  

  
  

• Goals Explained URL

  
  

• A selection of talks to understand more about SDG 13 URL

  
  

• How far have we gone for SDG13 URL

  Planetary warming continued in 2016, setting a new record of about 1.1 degrees Centigrade above the preindustrial period, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2016. Drought conditions predominated across much of the globe, aggravated by the El Niño phenomenon In the Statement, WMO also noted that the extent of global sea ice fell to a minimum of 4.14 million km2 in 2016, the second lowest extent on record. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels also reached a record high of 400 parts per million that year. Mitigating climate change and its impacts will require building on the momentum achieved by the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which entered into force on 4 November 2016. Stronger efforts are needed to build resilience and limit climate-related hazards and natural disasters.
  

  
  

  
  

• Contributions of International Law, Policy and Governance File

  This Issue Brief provides a succinct analysis of the contributions made by international law, policy, and governance to achieving the ambitious goal set out in SDG 13. Following an outline of the legal sources that support SDG 13, this Brief explores some key legal obstacles that the international community and individual States could face in their efforts to combat climate change and its impacts, as well as some policy, institutional, and governance-related considerations for furthering the domestic implementation of SDG 13.
  

• A few good examples from all over the world in different levels URL

  Regional level:

  
  

  
  

  
  

  National level:

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  City level:

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• Community and individual level URL

  World Bank’s Global Partnership Program
  

  The campaign is meant to highlight unity in support of climate solutions; countries, cities, regions, businesses, civil society and individuals are “Uniting for Climate Action.”
  

  The communications campaign could include solutions to rising oceans and managing vulnerability, the opportunities in climate action, and how low-carbon resilient economies are being built through united actions. Partners are encouraged to share their climate actions and solutions, promote events and activities, and emphasize the unity in climate action towards building a low-carbon resilient future.

  VR/360-Video Competition

  The Uniting4Climate International VR Pitch Competition asks for a pitch – a proposal for a VR production in the form of a 400-word description and a 1 minute sample video – that will use the particular qualities of VR to illustrate and explain to best effect climate solutions and action, inspiring the unity behind solving the climate challenge. The aim is to enable the widest possible international participation for creative people with a passionate interest in, or strong experience of, climate change action and solutions, but also an appetite for exploring the VR production experience.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

• 19 Global Climate Action Projects to be Honoured at the UN Climate Conference COP23 in Bonn URL

  http://newsroom.unfccc.int/climate-action/winners-of-2017-un-climate-solutions-awards-announced
  

  Nineteen ground-breaking initiatives from around the world were announced today, as recipients of the United Nations ‘Momentum for Change’ Climate Solutions Award.

  The winners underline how Global Climate Action is accelerating, two years after the Paris Agreement was universally adopted and in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.

  
  

• Debates URL

  The Journey Past Paris – American Withdrawal and Next Steps in Climate Action （Jean A. Garrison, 2017）

  • Paris represented a first step in a long-term commitment to make deep changes to how countries develop. The bottom-up approach brought countries to the table with individual commitments and meaningful reductions which set a positive baseline for negotiations in Paris. This structure allowed states the flexibility they needed to advance their national policies while overcoming differences that had stymied past agreements. Reviews every five years provided a structure to trust and verify each state’s promises for climate action. Thus, states found a way to sign on to an agreement that took practical win-win steps in climate action, while providing a road map for an ambitious climate agenda that could make more progress over time for societies such as the small island states on the front lines for climate impacts.
  • Paris signaled a collective shift in the discussion from the burdens of climate action to opportunities climate action offered to promote economic growth and to create jobs and prosperity. But for President Trump, the climate accord represented an unfair burden on the American economy while it gave emitters such as China and India a pass. In issue framing terms, the US withdrawal from the Paris Accord reflected the embrace of the old framing of climate action as a burden rather than emphasis on collective opportunities. However, American withdrawal from the Paris Agreement has not changed the collective opportunity baseline.
    
  • But for President Trump, the climate accord represented an unfair burden on the American economy while it gave emitters such as China and India a pass. In issue framing terms, the US withdrawal from the Paris Accord reflected the embrace of the old framing of climate action as a burden rather than emphasis on collective opportunities. However, American withdrawal from the Paris Agreement has not changed the collective opportunity baseline.
  • On the international level, the collective response to the US withdrawal illustrates just how isolated the US administration is on this issue. The immediate reaffirmation of the accords by EU states as well as China and India show that the Paris agenda is alive and well. President Trump has made the United States irrelevant to the effort it led two years before and the important role it played in putting it together. Countries such as China and India are poised to fill the leadership vacuum. The rejection of Paris also was a rejection of the multilateral agenda and a fundamental shift in approach to American foreign policy. This is about nationalism over globalism, and the triumph of domestic symbolic politics. This action also shows the president’s misunderstanding of the Paris model and ignorance to the mechanisms that allowed specifically for national responses to address climate action.
  • The broad coalition of support for climate action provides a solid basis to move Paris goals forward without the United States as a signatory. In fact, climate action in the United States is set to continue.
  • First, the US federal government leadership gap has been filled by subnational actors such as states and cities. California is the sixth leading economy in the world and has remained committed to the climate agenda. Further, mayors of cities within the United States and beyond remain committed to their climate action goals.
  • Second, Trump’s decision does not change the stance of the coalition of business groups supporting climate action. This coalition, including leading fossil fuel companies such as Exxon and Shell, see climate action as something to factor into their business plans. Similarly, utility companies will not change their trajectory to move away from coal and toward natural gas and renewables. They do this because customers expect it, investors expect sustainability, the technology has changed, and the economics support the shift to rely less on coal. These are the entities that will implement the policies that accomplish the goals of the Paris Accord.
  • The bottom line is that the broad coalition of actors promoting the Paris agenda remains in place. American withdrawal is a barrier, but key states remain committed to climate action and broad support from subnational actors, business, and civil society show the breadth of the transnational coalition agreeing on this action. Paris remains a baseline for future progress in climate action.
    

  
  

• Three approaches proposed by @PublicAgenda to meet the challenge of climate change URL

  I. We need decisive local, national and international action to prevent & minimize the worst consequences of climate change

  We need strong local, national and international action to dramatically cut the production of greenhouse gasses, slow down global warming, and prevent the worst consequences of climate change.

  
  

  
  

  II. We need to make sure our most vulnerable communities adapt to the inevitable changes global warming will cause

  It’s too late to prevent global warming, so we should make sure our communities, especially those that are the most vulnerable, prepare to adapt to the problems it will cause.

  
  

  
  

  III. We should trust the free market to lead the way in the search for solutions

  We should rely on the efficiency and ingenuity of businesses in the private sector to provide us with the best strategies for addressing climate change.

  
  

• Further readings URL

  • Uniting4Climate 
    
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  • Facing the Challenges of Climate Change A GUIDE FOR CITIZEN THOUGHT AND ACTION
    
  • Overcoming Obstacles in Global Climate Action from Copenhagen to Paris: Issue Framing as a Tool to Understand Opportunities for Policy Change
    
  • The lazy person's guide to saving the world 
    
  • UNDP SUPPORT TO THE IMPLEMENTATIOn OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 13
    
  • Why-it-Matters
    

  
  

• SDG 13 - Team Discussion Forum

  This forum will host the team discussion where they develop their ideas and plans for SDG 13.

  Interaction and feedback both within the team, and between the teams, should help further develop proposed ideas.
  

  Topic questions

  1. Share the impacts of global climate change on your community. 
     Identify the main challenges and critical areas that are most vulnerable and immediate actions are needed to address local impacts.
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  2. From global to local, as well as from local to global.
     Learn about other places’ best practices all over the world and what can SA, SEA cases provide to the world?
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  3. Dynamics and mechanism. 
     What are the decisive driving forces and effective collaboration frameworks of the local, national and international actions?
     Are there any conflicts and compromises during the action process?
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  NOTE: this discussion forum activity will close automatically on June 16, so get your contributions posted before that date!