Advancing action on the UN sustainable development goals

Abstract

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of objectives that were agreed by the global community in 2015 as a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future” [1]. Climate action is directly embodied in one of the seventeen goals (SDG 13), in recognition of the extreme risks to humanity posed by the impacts of climate change. However, as highlighted in a recent report by the World Meteorological Organization [2], the intensifying effects of climate change are rapidly undermining progress on almost all the SDGs. These interactions look set to become even more important as it appears increasingly likely that we will exceed 1.5 C of warming.