What is Sustainable Development Goal 13?

Climate action is the main commitment of this Sustainable Development Goal 13 that we will learn more about today

Nowadays, the tremendous impact that climate change has on people’s lives is undeniable; a problem caused by greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activities. This is generating increasingly frequent extreme weather events that affect every continent and nation across the globe, as well as sudden and severe changes in natural ecosystems. This is a situation that only people can change, and it is the focus of Sustainable Development Goal 13 (SDG 13).

If we are not able to curb the impact that our activities have on our planet, the consequences of this anthropogenic climate change, resulting from our current model, will only grow exponentially, further affecting our lives and denying a future to coming generations. Climate migrations and the consequent destabilizations of societies can lead to conflicts; a situation aggravated by the collapse of the natural systems we currently call home.

Therefore, if we want to meet the commitment to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, we must accelerate the decarbonization of our activities, pivoting towards an electrification model of the economy based on the promotion and use of non-polluting energies. However, to meet these levels – currently far from being achieved – we must halve our emissions by 2030. This necessity demands a firm commitment to decarbonization, which is one of the main levers of change proposed by Sustainable Development Goal 13.

We must, therefore, take transformative measures urgently, promoting an economic model where fossil fuels have no place and where energy is generated sustainably thanks to technologies within our reach, whose expansion is crucial for our near future. This is the premise with which SDG 13 is born, whose intermediate targets serve as support points to achieve significant milestones. Let’s see what they are.

What are the targets of SDG 13?

Let´s take a look to what´s the proposal of the United Nations as targets for the Sustainable Development Goal 13:

• 13.1 Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
• 13.2 Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning. 13.3 Improve education, awareness, and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning.
• 13.a Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation, and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible.
• 13.b Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries and small island developing States, including focusing on women, youth, and local and marginalized communities.

Do you want to know more about SDG 13? Check out the following video: