SDG #13: Climate Action — Global SDG Awards

SDG #13 - CLIMATE ACTION

Overview

Climate change affects every country and every person on Earth. It disrupts the global economy and will continue to affect the poorest and most vulnerable people the most. Weather patterns are changing, sea levels are rising, weather events are becoming more extreme and greenhouse gas emissions are now at their highest levels in history. Without action, the world’s average surface temperature is likely to surpass 3°C by the end of the century.

Affordable, scalable solutions can help countries leapfrog to cleaner, more resilient economies. The use of renewable energy is increasing as technology advances, and this and other measures will reduce carbon emissions and increase climate adaptation. Climate change, however, is a global challenge that does not respect national borders. It is an issue that requires collaboration and partnerships coordinated at all levels of governance to ensure everyone moves toward a low-carbon economy.

The Paris Agreement & Intended Nationally Determined Contributions

Parties to the Paris Agreement are expected to prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions. The nationally determined contributions reflect official country responses to climate change and contributions to global climate action.

To date, 185 parties have ratified the Paris Agreement, and as of 20 April 2017, 137 parties (136 countries and the European Commission) communicated their first nationally determined contributions to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. At this time, seven developing countries successfully completed and submitted the first iteration of their national adaptation plans, in response to climate change.

Climate Finance Mobilization

Developed countries have committed to jointly mobilizing $100 billion per year by 2020 to address the climate-related needs of developing countries and to continue that level of support through 2025. Initial efforts to mobilize resources for the Green Climate Fund raised $10.3 billion and developed – country parties are strongly urged to scale up their financial support.

Deaths Attributed To Natural Disasters

The number of deaths attributed to natural disasters continues to rise, despite progress in implementing disaster risk reduction strategies. From 1990 to 2015, more than 1.6 million people died in internationally reported natural disasters. Many countries have begun implementing national and local disaster risk reduction strategies. In 2014-2015, most reporting countries indicated that environmental impact assessments, legislation on protected areas, climate change adaptation projects and programmes, and integrated planning played a major role in reducing underlying risk factors.

SDG MEDIA ZONE

Why We Need Climate Action

Why do we need a goal on climate action? UN Assistant Secretary-General for climate change Janos Pasztor answers this question and explains how addressing climate change can also help economic growth and improve people’s lives.

Mobile Apps Supporting Climate Action

A mobile payment app in China planted enough trees to cover an area equivalent to 130,000 soccer pitches. It rewards its users for living pollution-free lifestyles, allowing them to accumulate “green points”. After enough points are collected, a tree is planted, which helps to improve air quality in the highly polluted nation.

Information Technologies For The Climate

Information and communication technologies accelerate progress towards each SDG. Using data from satellite imaging and sensors allows researchers to predict extreme weather events, which enables advanced warnings and can help save lives.

BUSINESS RESOURCES FOR SDG #13

To achieve the UNFCCC goal of limiting global temperature rise to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the private sector must focus on transforming energy, industry, transport, food, agriculture and forestry systems. Firms need to anticipate, adapt and become resilient to the current and expected future impacts of climate change, and be proactive in finding solutions that help mitigate risk and minimize climate change.

By decarbonizing their operations and supply chains through energy efficiency, reducing the carbon footprint of their products, services and processes, and setting ambitious emissions reductions targets in line with climate science, and scaling up investment in the development of innovative low-carbon products and services, businesses can contribute to the solution.

GRI, UNGC Release 'Practical Guide' for Companies to Report Their Impact on the SDGs

Many companies already act and report on climate change, water management and labor conditions. This guide can help companies take stock of their current actions and discover additional priorities to contribute to achieving the SDGs (read more).

KPMG: How to Report on the SDGs & Global Goals

4 in 10 of the world’s largest companies already reference the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their corporate reporting, suggesting that business interest in the SDGs has grown quickly since their launch in September 2015 (read more).

Project Breakthrough: Growing The Businesses of Tomorrow

If we are going to achieve a sustainable future, as outlined by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the role of business will be critical. In fact, if viewed in the right way, achieving the SDGs presents huge market opportunities for businesses (read more).

AWARD QUESTIONS FOR SDG #13

1) Media Package

Program Photographs & Illustrations (Max. 10 Images)
Detailed Project Description (Max. 500 Words)
Optional: URL/Link to Supporting Video

2) Financial & Strategic

In order to determine financial performance & potential for scalability, please answer the following questions:

Please describe how the SDG business initiative is linked to your company’s core competency/competencies.
Please provide an overview of the business case associated with your SDG business initiative.
Please provide evidence of planned program expansion over the coming quarters and/or fiscal years.

3) Magnetism & Inspiration

How has your business initiative been a source of magnetism and inspiration? Please provide examples of your company’s influence on each of the following:

Industry Impact
Corporate Culture
Key Stakeholder Groups

4) SDG Impact Metrics

What progress has your organization made towards achieving SDG #13? Please select and provide one (or more) supporting metrics to help evaluate your environmental impacts (see below for a list of possible options to select from).

Please describe how has your company has:

Reduced greenhouse gas emissions in a sector with notable greenhouse gas emissions (i.e. – electricity & heat production, agriculture, forestry, transportation, construction, the built environment, etc). Please provide details regarding: reductions reported in kg CO2-eq according to GHG Protocol Standards, and % reduction vs. baseline.
Reduced greenhouse gas emissions associated with emissions from industry (i.e. – chemical, metallurgical, manufacturing, mineral transformation processes). Please provide details regarding: reductions reported in kg CO2-eq according to GHG Protocol Standards, and % reduction vs. baseline.
Achieved low-cost sequestration of atmospheric greenhouse gases (i.e. – CO2, CH4, N2O, etc.), enabling carbon neutral or carbon negative facility operations. Please provide details regarding: the cost $ USD per reduction kg CO2-eq, and total reductions reported in kg CO2-eq.
Other KPI (please insert and describe).

OPTIONAL: Please provide a description/overview of 3rd party assurances relating to the verification of the metrics and figures provided above.

EXPLORE THE GLOBAL GOALS