Governments, donors and multilateral development banks must step up the pace and increase investments in renewable energy for people in poverty, living off the grid.

The world is woefully off track on SDG7 – ensuring that everyone has affordable, sustainable and modern energy by 2030 – despite the fact that this would transform the lives of one billion people currently without electricity and three billion people without clean cooking. On the current path, almost 700 million people still won’t have electricity by 2030. The gap between the goal and the delivery is huge.

With money as a proxy for priority, we will continue to fall behind on SDG7. Just 1% of global finance for energy access is going to decentralised renewable energy, according to Sustainable Energy for All. This figure is tiny compared to the 71% of energy access investments that should support such solutions, according to the International Energy Agency.

Part of the challenge is that national electricity grids, often powered by polluting fossil fuels, are likely to take decades to reach those still without energy in remote, rural areas. With just 12 years on the clock until the SDGs are due to be met, strategies to ensure every woman, man and child has energy need to include other solutions in the mix. Decentralised renewable energy, like solar, is often the quickest, cheapest and most reliable route to bring power to homes, businesses, schools and health clinics in rural areas as highlighted in Tearfund’s recent report ‘Pioneering Power‘.

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Pope Francis meets Ban Ki-moon. The pontiff addressed the UN plenary hall in New York to call for sustainable development (credit: UN photo)

By Alex Pashley

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the world had chosen a “life of dignity and prosperity for the health of the planet” on Friday by ratifying 17 international goals that seek to end extreme poverty and hunger.

“Billions of young people must use the goals to transform the world. We will do that through partnership and commitment. We must leave nobody behind,” Ban told reporters in New York, after 193 UN member states green-lighted the Sustainable Development Goals.

The set of voluntary targets and indicators will be expected to shape the agenda and policies of governments over the next 15 years.

Replacing the eight expiring Millennium Development Goals, the goals take steps to fight climate change, end violence against women and provide universal health coverage from next year.

Analysis: Why should you care about the Sustainable Development Goals?

It came as Pope Francis addressed the UN on the world’s commitment to fight poverty, end social exclusion and declared a “right to the environment”, which mankind had no authority to abuse.

Ban said this generation could be the first to end extreme poverty and hunger, and the last with the power to stop climate change.

What are the Sustainable Development Goals? http://t.co/DRHB7HG0wR #SDGs pic.twitter.com/7K0EXvOgF2

— World Economic Forum (@wef) September 24, 2015

The South Korean diplomat hailed the feat as the “most inclusive process in UN history,” with some 8.5 million people consulted on the drafting process, which officials laboured over for three years.

The president of the UN’s general assembly, Mogens Lykketoft called on governments to define how they will implement the post-2015 development agenda. A summit will be held in April to iron out details, he said.

Critics say trillions of dollars are needed to carry out the visionary package, and say they are overoptimistic in making their vision reality.

“We can do this if we want to do it,” Lykketoft said, taking questions for Ban.

“The decision makers have to understand if they don’t do it, the number of problems they’ll have to deal with is much more than we have to deal with today.”

A warming planet is set to lead to a rise in extreme weather, like droughts and storms. Goal number 13 calls to take urgent action to stop global warming.

The Overseas Development Institute, a London think tank, said 720 million may fall back into extreme poverty unless greenhouse gas emissions peak in 2030, and fall to near zero by 2100.

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Leonardo DiCaprio at last year’s UN climate summit, which had a mass march through the streets of New York as its high point (Flickr/ UN photos)

By Alex Pashley

Once a year the world’s elected representatives mingle in Manhattan for the UN general assembly.

This year secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has bumped climate change and sustainable development to top of the agenda.

The New York meet will see a new set of development goals signed off, and 40 world leaders gather for a private discussion on ensuring a global climate pact is agreed in Paris later this year.

But campaigners aren’t squandering the opportunity to pressure dignitaries to ratchet up ambition before a key December summit.

On the sidelines is Climate Week. The seventh edition is chock-full of timed announcements, and at its core is the message of the low carbon economy.

The event, which runs from September 21-28 aims to make UN negotiators “see what is happening in the real world of investment, cities and subnational entities,” says Ban’s right-hand man, Janos Pasztor.

Over 100 affiliated events are scattered around the Big Apple, organisers says, culminating in a top event bringing together head honchos of climate-smart firms and politicians.

Here’s what is going on.

40 states and regions unveiled carbon cuts for the first time –  equal to what America emits a year.

The ‘compact’ counts California, the Basque Country and Rio de Janeiro as its members.  They will spare the atmosphere 7.9 billion tonnes of CO2, make up 5% of global emissions and account for 10% of world GDP, it said on Monday.

Scotland “determined to lead by example” on climate: @NicolaSturgeon on #ClimateTV for #CWNYC http://t.co/pEYWJb8MUc pic.twitter.com/rQCYI73xix

— The Climate Group (@ClimateGroup) September 22, 2015

Crucially, these are the “dynamos of the global economy”, said Carl Pope, an adviser to Michael Bloomberg who is the UN’s special envoy for cities and climate.

Top governments can set targets, but cities and regions are “where the rubber meets the road,” Pope tells Climate Home.

That number coming forward could reach 300 as sub-national groups lead, and in the case of some like Quebec or South Australia take on laggard federal governments.

Fossil fuel divestment pledges went into overdrive to top $2.6 trillion

A campaign to blacklist coal, tarsands and other polluting investments has swelled 50 times in size on a year earlier, as private firms joined faith-based groups and NGOs which got the cause off the ground.

“Since starting on the campuses of a few colleges in the U.S., this movement has struck a chord with people across the world who care about climate change, and convinced some of the largest and most influential institutions in the world to begin pulling their money out of climate destruction,” says May Boeve, executive director of campaigners 350.org.

Fortune 500 firms pledge to run on 100% renewable electricity Goldman Sachs, Nike and Walmart were among eight new companies boosting the one-year-old RE100 campaign to 36 members on Wednesday.

Timeframes vary on when companies will reach their lofty goals, but the signal is important.

.@Nike, @Walmart, @GoldmanSachs, @JNJNews @ProcterGamble @Starbucks @Steelcase, @Voya, @salesforce pledge 100% renewable electricity! #RE100 — ClimateWeekNYC (@ClimateWeekNYC) September 23, 2015

“Climate change is a global issue that requires global solutions. We believe that collaboration is important to accelerate and scale sustainable innovations that have potential to change the world, and Nike is proud to join the leading global brands in RE100,” said Eric Sprunk, chief operating officer at NIKE Inc, who plan to reach the goal by 2025.

Pope lands in US to address Congress and General Assembly

Pope Francis moves up from a short spell in Cuba to meet President Obama and address lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

His pastoral message to Catholics to conserve the planet injected a moral dimension into the climate debate. Yet the Vatican’s posturing has drawn scorn from sceptic Republicans.

Last week he implored European environment ministers to get the “desired result” in Paris.

(Pic: Flickr/Catholic Church England and Wales)

More climate pledges expected

Major emitters yet to submit so-called INDCs are slated to finally show their cards over the week.

Brazil, India, Indonesia and perhaps South Africa will reportedly deliver plans, just days before a defacto deadline to maximising exposure for their efforts.

Sustainable Development Goals

World leaders will formally ink new goals that will be expected to shape their agendas and policies over the next 15 years.

The universal set of voluntary targets and indicators take steps to fight climate change, end violence against women, and provide universal health coverage.

Stacking up forest progress

Last year, the New York Declaration on Forests signed by over 130 governments and businesses pledged to cut net deforestation to zero by 2030.

Asia Pulp and Paper, US food processor Cargill, and consumer goods firm Unilever were among 34 companies vowing to green supply chains.

A year on, an update is expected later this week, said organisers The Climate Group.

It takes the world’s temperature on climate action two months before Paris

With the conference so close, it’s put up or shut up.

Negotiating positions are being refined by countries, and grand interventions from the business community, celebrities and civil society, can only build so much momentum. The last five days of interim talks are slated for Bonn in October.

A bright green light shines on the horizon – tonight @EmpireStateBldg partners with @ClimateGroup to symbolize #CWNYC pic.twitter.com/ovgwxe7nB5

— ClimateWeekNYC (@ClimateWeekNYC) September 21, 2015

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The Pope will make a high-profile trip to the United States next week, with stops in DC, New York, Philadelphia, before flying to Cuba (Pic: Aleteia Image Department/Flickr)

By Alex Pashley

Pope Francis implored European Union officials on Wednesday to get the “desired result” at this year’s crunch UN climate summit, as he renewed an advocacy drive a week before addressing US lawmakers.

In a private meeting with environment heads of the 28-member bloc in Rome, the pontiff encouraged all to back efforts to curb climate change and poverty through new development goals, its official broadcasting service said.

“Dear Ministers, the COP21 summit is fast approaching and there is still a long way to go to achieve a result that is capable of bringing together the many positive stimuli that have been offered as a contribution to this important process,” said a translation of the speech by Vatican Radio.

“I strongly encourage you to intensify your work, along with that of your colleagues, so that in Paris the desired result is achieved.”

Carole Dieschbourg of Luxembourg addressing Pope Francis on behalf of EU environment ministers at audience @Pontifex pic.twitter.com/dzRUgDorm5

— Lars-Hjalmar Wide (@LarsHjWide) September 16, 2015

The head of the Catholic Church made an unprecedented intervention in a June encyclical providing a moral dimension to claims to conserve the planet.

“We may well be leaving to coming generations debris, desolation and filth,” he told his flock of 1.2 billion worldwide.

Green campaigners warmly welcomed the moral dimension it brought to the conversation. Meanwhile, it rattled climate-sceptic conservatives in the US and Poland.

Almost 200 nations are crafting a global warming agreement to be signed off at a Paris summit known as COP21 in a bid to cap rising temperatures to 2C by 2100.

The UN’s top climate chief yesterday acknowledged that national pledges, that form the backbone of a deal, won’t be sufficient to meet that target. Countries must agree to deepen emission cuts at regular intervals.

The EU, for its part, has committed to a 40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.

The Pope will visit the US from next week, and address Congress on September 24, as countries sign off on ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ at the UN’s annual assembly in New York.

Analysis: Why should you care about the Sustainable Development Goals?

The audience with the EU, the third-largest emitting bloc, comes two days before it finalises its negotiating strategy for Paris.

“Pope Francis is appealing to policy makers directly to care for creation and ensure the poor and excluded are protected from the worst impacts of a changing climate,” said Bernd Nilles, secretary general of the international alliance of Catholic development agencies, CIDSE. 

“EU Environment Ministers need to muster the courage and leadership to look beyond short-term electoral cycles and take lasting decisions for the common good.”

Wendel Trio, director at Climate Action Network said the visit “could not be more timely”, with the EU facing scrutiny over the strength of its goals to combat climate change.

“Hopefully, the Pope’s moral weight will have tangible impact on political leaders in Poland. If not the mounting costs of bankrupting coal industry, perhaps their strong Catholic beliefs could convince them to stop blocking further EU action on climate change,” he said.

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Farmers in Vietnam. The UN sustainable development goals seek to end hunger and abolish extreme poverty by 2030 (Kibae Park/UN Photo)

By Alex Pashley

World leaders unanimously signed off on revamped anti-poverty goals on Friday, which campaigners say could rival in significance 1948’s watershed UN Declaration of Human Rights.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are a universal set of voluntary targets and indicators that 193 UN member states will be expected to use to shape their agendas and policies over the next 15 years.

Swelling from the expiring Millennium Development Goals’ list of eight, the proposed goals take steps to fight climate change, end violence against women, and provide universal health coverage – and go live from January.

“We pledge that nobody will be left behind”, boomed the Zero Draft published in June. UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon has tried to offer clarity around the goals’ purpose, listing the six “essential elements” as dignity, prosperity, justice, partnership, planet, and people.

But for many, the post-2015 development agenda seems fuzzy – a disorienting product of years of UN summitry.

Zero Draft – Sustainable Development Goals

Lord Malloch-Brown, former head of the UN’s Development Programme when it devised the original Millennium Development Goals said the SDGs emerged from an “extraordinary global consultation exercise”, which had led to strengths and weaknesses.

“The SDGs have a much greater bottom up initial legitimacy, but precisely because of that consultation it reflects a less disciplined, easily adoptable agenda,” the ex UN chief told RTCC.

Of the 17 goals, there are 169 targets, which have in turn have at least two indicators each to measure implementation.

For example, goal 2 – end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture – vies to “correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets,” through eliminating export subsidies, as its indicator.

A view of rice fields owned by local hill tribes in Vietnam. Volatile food prices hit the world’s poor  (Kibae Park/UN Photo)

Having doubled in number, the goals have gone from “fixed menu” to “a la carte” as countries become more selective in which ones they prioritise, Malloch-Brown said.

Jonathan Glennie, director of policy and research at Save the Children, called the proposals “visionary” and urged governments to go beyond comfort zones to enact the plans.

“It could become another UN document on the shelf, or it could be as important as the UN Declaration of Human Rights in the 1940s, in setting out norms we expect countries to live by,” he said.

“Will it be easy? No it won’t, but we need to be imaginative and creative.”

Success story

The Millenium Development Goals halved global poverty five years early, made large gains in fighting malaria and tuberculosis and cut by 50% the number lacking access to drinking water.

To carry out their successors’ aims to the letter, the UN estimates that US$3.3-4.5 trillion will be needed a year in the developing world.

With current investment at around $1.4tn, from government aid budgets to private sources of finance, that leaves a $2.5tn funding gap.

It would be “unacceptable” to write the manifesto and not stump up the cash, said Glennie, noting governments are delaying foreign aid targets of 0.7% of spending.

A report by the Overseas Development Institute states that 30 countries will remain “chronic donors” through 2030, with another 30 aid dependent.

To bridge the gap, the world must cast off outmoded thinking of a coterie of rich countries providing the lion’s share of funding.

A richer developing world can play a larger part, by retaining higher tax takes for example.

Though the real transformation lies in investment opportunities as the world moves toward a low-carbon economy.

A woman in India learns to become a solar engineer. (UN photo/ Gaganjit Singh)

Financing green projects from new power grids to solar panels in Africa will cut carbon and provide returns. All investors from pensions to hedge funds had to transform their thinking, said Malloch-Brown.

“At present, pension funds typically limit their exposure to emerging markets to around 10%. You’ve got to blow the lid off that. It will be much safer world [for pension holders] to retire in if it’s deployed that way,” he said.

The insertion of tracts on climate and energy signalled a key realisation – the environment and development are no longer in direct competition, Alison Doig, a climate change advisor at Christian Aid said.

Goal 7 is to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all,” and includes a call to “increase substantially” the share of renewables in power generation.

Likewise, goal 13 calls to “take urgent action to combat climate change and impacts,” which means building resilience to more frequent and extreme weather.

In climate circles, rich countries have promised to drum up US$100 billion a year by 2020 to help meet these goals, which the SDGs rally on them to deliver.

But Doig said the links between the two UN processes were weak, with just one paragraph mentioning climate in the SDG declaration. Oil-exporting nations too leave vague language in the text.

“This isn’t a climate proofed development package,” she said. “There’s no reference to 2C [an internationally agreed aim to limit warming by 2100] or the huge efforts needed across all SDGs to put it on that pathway.

“You can’t reduce poverty unless you do mitigation, and build resilience. Every single goal has to integrate these aspects.”

Battle lines

In spite of progress, old battle lines still divide rich and countries, said Kasia Staszewska, a policy adviser at ActionAid UK.

The meeting on sustainable financing goals in Addis Adaba will bring that into sharp relief. But shifts in geopolitics, has given rise to the likes of the BASIC countries and Global South collective, the G77, exerting a stronger influence on the outcome.

While overseas assistance has helped nix poverty in largely stable countries, like India and China, more is needed in a band of crisis-stricken states spanning West Africa to Eritrea and Yemen, said Malloch-Brown.

“The quiver of arrows you need to tackle it aren’t simple economics like service provision… but good governance, accountability and anti-corruption.”

He gave Cambodia as an example of a country that came back from the brink after protracted civil war. “It’s up to countries on their own as well as Western donors.”

The post Why should you care about the Sustainable Development Goals? appeared first on Climate Home News.

Pic: Chuck Coker/Flickr

By Sophie Yeo

Tackling climate change is one of 17 goals included in the UN’s blueprint for its new post-2015 sustainable development agenda.

Diplomats passed the final document outlining the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals on Saturday, after 29 hours of negotiating.

The text, pieced together by representatives from 30 countries, will be passed on to the UN for discussion among all member states at the General Assembly in September.

Whether or not the document will contain a goal dedicated to climate change has concerned some countries and civil society groups.

While countries such as France, Peru, Mexico and Bangladesh have supported the inclusion of a goal on global warming, others, including China and India, had rejected these calls.

Supporters say that, without a dedicated goal on climate change, sustainable development more widely will be impossible.

In the balance

The goal on climate change could still be removed following further negotiations by the UN.

“It’s remarkable that we even got a dedicated goal given the politics,” said Farooq Ullah, executive director at the Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future, who attended the meeting in New York last week.

But he added that the future of the goal was by no means certain: “I would say it is one of the five really contentious issues that was being debated until the last moment.”

It is still possible that the 17 goals could be reduced, in order to make them more manageable. There are only eight Millennium Development Goals, which expire in 2015 and which the new framework will replace.

Bernadetter Fischler, UK co-chair of the Beyond 2015 group, said that she was concerned that the climate change goal would be one of the first to get the chop should this be the case.

This is because climate change is already covered by a separate UN framework, with a new treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions scheduled to be signed next in Paris next year.

In this case, climate change would have to be incorporated into the remaining goals – a process where the UN does “not have the greatest track record”, said Fischer. “It could easily drop through the cracks.”

The goal as it currently stands requires countries to strengthen their resilience to climate hazards, integrate climate change measures into national policies, and implement a pre-existing commitment by rich countries to donate US$ 100 billion a year from 2020 to tackle the problem.

But its lack of precise targets has left some observers disappointed, relying on imprecise designations where other goals invite quantified commitments.

“It’s the weakest, vaguest and the weirdest,” said Fischler. “It is the first one that’s going to be eaten by the wolf.”

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Ban-Ki Moon has made the SDGs a key goal for his tenure as Secretary General (Pic: UN Photos)

By Ed King

UN envoys developing a set of Sustainable Development Goals to be agreed in 2015 have listed ‘action on climate change’ as one of their 17 main goals.

This will be seen as significant, given stiff opposition from countries such as Saudi Arabia to the inclusion of global emission reduction efforts in the SDGs.

Published on June 2, the latest list ranges from ending poverty and attaining gender equality to promoting sustainable consumption patterns and protecting terrestrial ecosystems.

Goal 13 calls for signatories to ‘Promote actions at all levels to address climate change’.

Countries agreed to deliver the non-binding SDGs at the 2012 Rio+20 Earth Summit, replacing the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when they expire next year.

The presence of a global warming goal has been broadly welcomed by civil society observers following the SDGs, which will likely be signed off two months before a UN climate deal is agreed in Paris.

“There are some member states who say we shouldn’t prejudge the UNFCCC, but we believe they can complement each other,” Oxfam economic advisor David Taylor told RTCC.

“This is not the place to put binding emissions cuts in, but we can signal political agreement that we want to commit to a world where temperatures doesn’t rise by more than 1.5C.”

Lack of clarity

The ‘zero draft document’ currently lists an ‘x’ where a temperature limit should be, mindful of the ongoing debate over at UN climate talks on what a realistic target should be.

But it does stress the need for building resilience and adaptive capacity, as well as introducing ‘instruments’ to incentivise investment, although the date for this to take place reads ‘20xx’.

So far talks have taken place within an ‘open working group’, with 30 country coalitions feeding in their ideas and participating in public discussions.

And a ‘high level panel’ comprised of the heads of government from Liberia, Indonesia and the UK has highlighted areas of concern for leaders ahead of further talks.

“Above all, there is one trend – climate change – which will determine whether or not we can deliver on our ambitions,” warned Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and David Cameron in their report.

Bitter debate

Tougher negotiations are set to resume later this year where the 17 goals are reduced to 10 or 12.

Climate vulnerable countries like Bangladesh, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and Least Developed Countries bloc are known to strongly support a single climate goal.

This is likely to come under pressure during further talks, with Mustafizur Rahman, Bangladesh’s UN envoy noting the “scepticism expressed by some colleagues” over its presence.

A March 2014 submission from Poland and Romania neatly sums up this line of argument: “the way forward in relation to climate change is to actively mainstream climate related actions in several goals and targets,” they argue.

Saudi Arabia’s March contribution is more blunt: “It is our belief climate change should not be a stand along goal,” it say, suggesting it could interfere with UNFCCC negotiations.

Oxfam’s Taylor says the NGO isn’t against the idea of losing a single climate target, but only on the condition it is integrated into the final set that emerges next September.

He said: “For the time being, we’re advocating it should be a stand-alone goal because it would should leadership if the world announces a set of goals that says reducing inequality and climate change are priorities. That’s why we welcome it’s in there.”

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General Assembly President Vuk Jeremic. Pic: UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

By Sophie Yeo

The United Nations is uniquely suited to push forward a new age of sustainability, according to a new report by a leading panel of UN officials.

It says national governments must come together to design and implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed in 2012.

These will take over from the Millennium Development Goals when they expire in 2015.

Member States agreed to adopt SDGs at Rio+20 in a document entitled The Future We Want. The goals, they said, would “be useful for pursuing focused and coherent action on sustainable development.”

The goals will last until at least 2050, with a stage of urgent implementation from 2015 to 2030. Together, they will direct action towards a sustainable approach in economic, social and environmental development.

UN at the centre

The report was presented by a panel led by the economist Jeffrey Sachs on Monday. At the launch, Vuk Jeremic, the President of the General Assembly, said that sustainable development was the overriding challenge of the 21^st century.

He said that the UN “must be the vital centre of the sustainable effort, one that draws on every stakeholder: private businesses, non-governmental organizations, universities and research centres, international financial institutions, and the UN organs themselves.”

The report says that “The challenge of setting and implementing SDGs will constitute the largest and most ambitious global development agenda ever undertaken.”

But, it adds, “Nothing less is needed in view of the seriousness and urgency of the challenges facing humanity.”

But while the powerful member states and international financial institutions are crucial to the success of the project, “only the UN has the capacity to lead it,” it says.

This is because the goals will deal with global issues that only the UN has the political legitimacy to address, and will require worldwide expertise across multiple disciplines.

A million voices

The paper coincides with another report from the UN, released yesterday and entitled A Million Voices: The World We Want. This aimed to capture a sense of global priorities in addressing global development, in order to help Member States to craft the SDGs.

“Our work to define a post-2015 development agenda will help us to recalibrate our efforts to eradicate extreme poverty and chart a course to a world of prosperity, peace, sustainability, equity and dignity for all,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at a press conference in New York.

Both reports aim to address why the current global situation requires a whole new set of goals, rather than merely extending the Millennium Development Goals by another 15 years.

But the first report states that, while the world should not lose sight of its Rio+20 commitments, a new framework was required to ensure that these were achieved sustainably, rather than merely bringing about achievements that would quickly be lost in an era of social instability.

The latest report adds that the new goals need to respond to the new challenges posed by population dynamics and environmental degradation that have worsened since the initial goals were crafted in 2000.

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Proposed sustainable development goals (SDGs) must focus on cutting rich nations’ environmental footprint rather than boosting flows of overseas aid, a new group representing some of the world’s poorest nations warns.

Targetting rising consumption levels of developed countries and the resulting pollution this creates is likely to be more effective than ‘bad aid’, they say.

The Independent Expert Group of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), supported by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), met in London for the first time this week, and plans to submit recommendations to the UN’s SDG working group in June.

“In the past with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) the framing was getting poor people out of poverty. It was about the developed countries funding that,” the IIED’s Saleemul Huq said.

“The next era is much less in our view about that paradigm continuing – it’s not about the rich giving money to the poor. That remains an unfinished but minor part of the agenda.

“A bigger part of the agenda is the whole world reaching sustainability, in which the rich are over-consuming and over-polluting. It’s not about them sending money to the poor. It’s about them doing something at home.”

If the UK included imported goods into its carbon emission calculations between 1990-2008, they would rise 20% (Pic: Flickr)

The former prime minister of Haiti – Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis – will co-chair the group, whose other members come from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Eritrea, Gambia, Mali, Nepal, Uganda and Senegal.

Consumption levels are soaring around the world, a consequence of a rising global population and greater levels of choice for consumers in terms of food, travel and other material goods.

This in turn is causing a surge in environmental degradation and greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries, where many of these products are manufactured.

Scientists warn that the collapse of natural ecosystems is undermining attempts to combat poverty.

In an article in the journal Nature, David Griggs from the Monash Sustainability Institute argued: “the stable functioning of Earth systems – including the atmosphere, oceans, forests, waterways, biodiversity and biogeochemical cycles – is a prerequisite for a thriving global society.”

A 2012 report by a UK Parliament Committee calculated that 40% of China’s total emissions were due to export orders, in effect outsourced by rich nations.

“One part of sustainability is not addressed – and that is consumption. They address poverty but not consumption,” said Youba Sokona, Mali’s representative on the group.

New era

Countries began the process of constructing post-2015 targets in February this year. The SDGs are likely to replace the MDGs, which expire in 2015.

Most developing nations want their richer counterparts to take the lead in combatting the environmental stresses the world faces on the grounds of historical responsibility.

But in what has already proved a contentious move for some developing country representatives at the UN, the LDC group wants to move discussions on the proposed SDGs away from finance and back onto what domestic actions donor countries can take.

It says ‘bad aid’ is actually holding back their own development: “It corrupts politicians, those who should be guardians of our societies. It corrupts legal systems. It pushes funding to fossil fuels,” said Dipak Gyawali, a group member and former Nepal Minister of Water Resources.

“Wherever we see things in our countries where there are moments of hope, where we see amazing innovations in villages such as technology or new practices and energy, micro, hydro, solar, these are happening by some mysterious means that really has little connection to the global discourse on foreign aid, development and MDGs.

“The time is gone to think of this whole thing in terms of aid. I am one of those who argues the age of aid is over.”

Huq points to Bangladesh’s new US$350 million national climate change fund as proof developing nations can survive without aid from abroad, while Gyawali says community projects in Nepal have a better track record than larger internationally funded efforts.

Target battle

While there appears to be reluctance at UN level to directly tackle global consumption, pressure from development NGOs is growing.

Stakeholder Forum’s recently launched SDG e-inventory already contains a variety of proposals on how sustainable consumption and production could be integrated into the post-2015 agenda.

“It is clear that eradicating poverty whilst remaining within our planet’s environmental limits, as the core objectives of the SDGs, are simply not possible unless developed nations address their issues of over-consumption and unsustainable production,” said Stakeholder Forum’s Jack Cornforth.

“Nonetheless these are not the only drivers of poverty and environmental degradation, therefore SDG targets on consumption and production should be set for all countries, accompanied by other targets pertaining to interrelated factors also key for sustainable development such as such as governance, health and education. ”

Despite their small economic status and relatively weak diplomatic power, the 49-nation LDC group has risen to prominence in recent months, notably at the UN climate change talks.

One of the group’s major strengths appears to be its ability to encourage the major emerging economies of China, India and Brazil to recognise their responsibilities in implementing change.

Huq added: “We want to show the LDCs as a positive force with a lot to contribute to the global agenda, and not just be recipients of aid which is the frame in which they are stuck – we want to break out of that framing of them as victims.”

The post Post-2015 sustainability goals ‘should target consumption’ appeared first on Climate Home News.

Saudi Arabia is leading calls for climate change to be omitted from the UN’s 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

At an SDG meeting in New York last week attended by over 70 nations the Saudis, together with fellow oil producers Venezuela and the UAE called for discussions of climate change to be separated from those on energy.

The three nations feature in the top seven of proven oil reserves worldwide, and have opposed targets to encourage clean energy over fossil fuels, despite evidence that climate change will exacerbate global hunger and poverty.

“Saudi Arabia don’t want climate change in the same session yet alone the same day as energy. They don’t really want it in there at all,” Stakeholder Forum’s Farooq Ullah, who attended the meeting, told RTCC.

“They oppose climate and energy being associated with one another and say energy [targets] should only deal with energy access, which clearly indicates they don’t want to set goals around the sustainability of the source of energy,” he added.

Saudi Arabia has a history of blocking attempts to cut fossil fuel use at the UN (Pic: UN)

The SDGs were established at the Rio+20 summit and are set to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which end in 2015.

Their main objective is poverty alleviation but the focus on sustainability could add momentum to climate-friendly development at a time when countries are starting negotiations over a legally binding emissions deal also set to be agreed in 2015.

“Climate change is going to be a struggle in the SDGs in general because of the UNFCCC, the UN’s climate change body,” said Ullah.

Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and other big oil exporters have already gained reputations as serial blockers at the these talks, which are at a delicate stage. Discussions outside of this forum can make some nations uneasy – as evidenced by China’s objections to climate being discussed at the UN Security Council.

Dirty development

Renewable energy lies at the heart of the SDG problem, but resistance to its inclusion in UN sustainability discussions is not new.

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) focuses on emissions and does not bind countries to clean energy sources. While many nations in the Gulf are investing in renewables at home and abroad, they fear any global agreement that could see the value of their reserves plummet.

“The international recognition that sustainable development cannot be achieved without renewable energy is not in the interest of Saudi Arabia, Venezuela or any other oil exporting countries,” Andrew Scott of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) told RTCC.

“Those countries have consistently in the UN for a tried to ensure that recognition doesn’t take place. I recall in round 1997 the UN Commission for Sustainable Development was debating energy. They failed to agree on a final document and one of the reasons was the insistence, particularly by Middle Eastern states, not to include anything that suggested renewable energy was the pathway to go down for sustainable development,” added Scott.

Ullah agrees, observing that without any progress in the main strand of UN climate talks it’s difficult to see how other diplomatic avenues can succeed.

“It will be hard to set a meaningful ambitious target while the UNFCCC remains inconclusive. They won’t want to trump the UNFCCC. So what can they do at the SDGs,” he said.

“The UK position is that climate change shouldn’t be a goal in its own right, but the drivers of climate change could be addressed in the other goals on food, water and energy. Having a discrete climate goal is not necessary.”

The content is still being hammered out by 30 small negotiating troikas that make up the Open Working Group (OWG) on SDGs.

The UK position could be interpreted as mainstreaming climate change into the goals, but Ullah warns that could be a polite way of sweeping the issue “under the carpet”.

The UK recently blocked climate change from the G8 talks but a spokesperson for Prime Minister David Cameron told RTCC that the Prime Minister remained committed to sustainable development as a concept.

“The PM believes that overarching focus of the post-2015 agenda must be to end extreme poverty but this will not be possible without promoting sustainable development,” they said.

Cameron is one of three co-chairs of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s High Level Panel on post 2015 development goals.

Ratcheting up

Ban Ki-moon has taken a personal interest in the SDGs. His office is spearheading a Sustainable Energy For All (SE4All) initiative and the UN will host a climate change summit for heads of state in 2014.

Obervers believe Ban Ki-moon will pull together the development focused post-2015 panel and the more environment led SDG group. The SE4All targets, to double energy access, renewables penetration and energy efficiency, could form part of the SDGs.

He has already expressed frustration with the slow progress of the UN’s climate talks and could view the goals as another means to build momentum.

“In September we expect Ban Ki-moon to bring the High Level Panel and the OWG’s work together with the OWG taking the work to its conclusion and he could insist at that point that climate is in the mix. We can’t know for sure,” said Clare Coffey, ActionAid.

Coffey stresses that the SDG process is not about writing a treaty like the UNFCCC, and is instead drawing up “soft” policy targets. This means it cannot put binding obligations on governments but it can draw interest to issues, boost the profile and provide a platform to “ratchet up” negotiations.

“The MDGs attracted attention and resources so you can’t write the SDGs off as purely symbolic,” said Coffey.

What are the sustainable development goals?

The SDGs were conceptualised at the Rio+20 summit with the expectation that they will replace the MDGs from 2015 onwards.

The eight MDGs cover health, poverty and education. Goal number seven promoted environmental sustainability focusing on biodiversity, water and sanitation.

The Rio+20 summit, largely deemed a failure despite a total of $513bn being pledged for a number of development and environmental projects.

Work on the SDGs is currently be driven by the OWG while efforts to replace the MDGs have been carried out by Ban Ki-moon’s High Level Panel on Post 2015 development.

The panel is co-chaired by the UK Prime Minister David Cameron and the Presidents of Indonesia and Liberia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf respectively.

OWG Draft Work Programme

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World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has criticised current efforts to address climate change and announced the organisation will be increasing its own interventions.

Speaking at the University of Georgetown on Tuesday, Kim also announced a goal to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030, which he said would need adequate action on climate change.

“To date, I believe our efforts to combat climate change have been too narrowly focused, small scale and uncoordinated. We can do better,” said Jim Yong Kim.

“Climate change is not just an environmental challenge. It is a fundamental threat to economic development and the fight against poverty,” he said.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the organisation was redesigning its approach to climate change (Source: Flickr/World Bank Photo Collection)

Kim also announced a target to boost the incomes of the poorest 40% in each of the World Bank Group countries.

“I also strongly believe that prosperity must be shared not only among individuals, communities, and nations, but also across generations. If we do not act to curb climate change immediately, we will leave our children and grandchildren with an unrecognizable planet.”

New strategy

The World Bank Group is working on a “revamped strategy” to increase its climate change work according to Kim.

“We are exploring a number of bold ideas, including new mechanisms to support and connect carbon markets; politically feasible plans to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies; increased investments in climate-smart agriculture; and innovative partnerships to build clean cities,” he said.

World Bank Vice President Rachel Kyte recently told an Australian radio station that the organisation had to prioritise support for climate vulnerable countries.

“It means as an organisation that it’s focused on helping countries end poverty and helping countries build a shared prosperity for the future that we understand that that is not going to be possible. If climate change continues at the rate at which we and the science predict,” she said.

International development efforts are currently guided by the Millennium Development Goals which expire in 2015, 1000 days from Friday April 5.

The proposed replacements, the so-called Sustainable Development Goals, or more loosely the post-2015 framework, are likely have stronger environmental component to them than their predecessors.

The post 2015 efforts are being led by UK Prime Minister David Cameron and the Presidents of Indonesia and Liberia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf respectively.

RTCC Video: World Bank VP Rachel Kyte warns climate change could derail efforts to tackle poverty

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