The Sustainable Development Goals: will they deliver climate compatible development for vulnerable countries?

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges the world faces today. It affects all aspects of the development agenda, from poverty eradication to health care, to economic growth and disaster risk reduction. Meanwhile, the success of global action on climate change will depend on the development path taken by all countries. 2015 will be a crucial year for global action on both climate change and development, with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)’s post-Kyoto deal on climate change, the post-2015 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and a future framework on disaster risk reduction all set to be finalised. This convergence of timelines offers a unique opportunity to achieve coherence between international policies on climate change, sustainable development and disaster preparedness. Some see the coinciding milestones in the climate and development agendas as an unprecedented chance to promote climate compatible development – an approach that would offer developing countries the opportunity to achieve long-term, sustainable development outcomes that are resilient to the impacts of climate change. These opportunities are explored in a new CDKN Paper by Helen Picot with Nicholas Moss of PwC: The Sustainable Development Goals: Will they deliver climate compatible development for vulnerable countries?.