SDGs – CD-LINKS

Implications for climate policy – helping policy makers understand opportunities in Joint Policy Day

On 7 November 2018, CD-LINKS, GREEN-WIN and TRANSRISK are hosting a Joint Policy Day in Brussels, Belgium.

Climate strategies showing that voluntary nationally determined contributions to meet the Paris Agreement will also be beneficial in terms of other policy objectives at local, national and regional levels are now seen as cornerstones for climate action. This may include national policies that generate environmental and health co-benefits, such as a reduction in air pollution.

The development of shorter-term, multiple-objective and bottom-up climate strategies is further strengthened by implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These provide 2030 targets for all aspects of human development, including climate, water, human health and well-being, social justice, poverty reduction and gender equality. Many of those SDGs, such as human well-being, poverty reduction and gender equality, are prerequisites for governments to address the climate problem – fostering SDGs in the short term will also provide climate benefits in the longer term. Conversely, implementation of the SDGs also illustrates possible trade-off between goals such as, for example, food security and emission reduction through biofuels.

The policy day integrates complementary perspectives on climate goals by collectively presenting the core findings of three EU-funded projects together with their implications for climate policy. Policy makers will need to understand the opportunities that this new framework presents, as well as the potential risks and uncertainties that lie in any proposed transition.

The three EU-funded Horizon 2020 projects featured have helped to address this need from complementary perspectives:

GREEN-WIN focused on macro-economic and green business strategies that address both economic and climate goals, as well as the role finance plays within these;
TRANS-RISK studied risks and uncertainties within low emission transition pathways, and how transitions can be implemented in ways that are economically and sociably feasible; and
CD-LINKS explored the complex interplay between climate action and development, while simultaneously taking both global and national perspectives and thereby informing the design of complementary climate-development policies.

The event is hosted by the Global Climate Forum and will take place at the Royal Library Meeting Center in Brussels, Belgium.

For more information, please email: cd-links.secretariat(@)iiasa.ac.at.

You can find the agenda here.

Visualization of Energy Investment web page published – based on analysis in Nature Energy journal

CD-LINKS has created a visualization web page that was developed based on an analysis published in the journal Nature Energy, which showed that low carbon investments will need to markedly increase if the world is to achieve the Paris Agreement aim of keeping global warming well below 2°C.

The authors of the analysis find that a fundamental transformation of the global energy system can be achieved with a comparatively modest increase in overall investments. However, a radical shift of investments away from fossil fuels and toward renewables and energy efficiency is needed, including dedicated investments into measures to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As part of the Paris Agreement in 2015, many countries defined Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) designed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The study confirms that current incentives like the NDCs will not provide sufficient impetus for the “pronounced change” in investment portfolios that are needed to transform the energy system.

To keep global temperature rise to 1.5–2°C, investments in low carbon energy and energy efficiency will likely need to overtake investments in fossil fuels as early as 2025 and then grow far higher. The low carbon and energy efficiency “investment gaps” calculated by the researchers are striking. To meet countries’ NDCs, an additional US$130 billion of investment will be needed by 2030, while to achieve the 2°C target the gap is US$320 billion and for 1.5°C it is US$480 billion. These investment figures represent more than a quarter of total energy investments foreseen in the baseline scenario, and up to half in some economies such as China and India.

Key insights of the analysis have been visualized in a user-friendly way with the CD-LINKS Energy Investment Visualization page, the development of which was led by Valentina Bosetti and Laurent Drouet of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC).

More detailed information on this story is available from the IIASA news webpage.

5th project meeting, India, 20-22 March 2018

The fifth CD-LINKS project meeting was hosted by TERI at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi, India on 20-22 March 2018.

As the project is entering its last 18 months, the meeting was oriented towards the final work plan and managing the next steps of the remaining research, in particular focusing on integrating across different work streams of the CD-LINKS project.

Sunset at the India Habitat Centre, Delhi / photo credit J. Callen

Dedicated plenary sessions on special matters were held during the meeting, such as the CD-LINKS summer school planned for summer 2019 (aimed at PhD and postgraduate students interested in integrated assessment modelling and its role in science-based policy making); a session also covered the final messaging of the project and, related to this, the contribution of CD-LINKS to the UNFCCC’s Talanoa Dialogue. Breakout groups also took place that focused on in-depth specialised topics, such as air pollution, food security and effort-sharing.

Significant work has already been undertaken in advance of many deadlines for the project and so CD-LINKS is right on track. A special issue on national low carbon development pathways for the journal Climatic Change will be published later this year that will feature 11 different scientific papers from the research teams of CD-LINKS.

The next project meeting is scheduled for 19-22 March 2019 and will be hosted by COPPE in Rio de Janeiro.

COP23 side event – 15 November – 1.5 & 2°C strategies, SDGs and green growth – EU Research Projects CD-LINKS and GREEN-WIN

Based on two EU-funded projects CD-LINKS and GREEN-WIN, the latest findings for ratcheting up the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) toward the 1.5 & 2°C goals from the Paris Agreement and green-economy strategies for aligning economic with climate goals will be presented in a side event at the 23rd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 23, 6-17 November 2017).

The side-event is one of three CD-LINKS events taking place at COP 23. This event titled 1.5 & 2°C strategies, SDGs and green growth – EU Research Projects CD-LINKS and GREEN-WIN highlights synergies & trade-offs with regards to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), investigates green growth strategies induced through alternative climate financing schemes, and presents local green economy business models that reconcile revenue generation with the SDGs.

Lijiang China – Shutterstock ©

The side-event will feature four thematic presentations followed by a panel discussion. the agenda is available from here.

Time and date: 15:15-16:30 on 15 November

Location: EU pavilion, Bonn Zone, COP23, Germany

For more information, contact: cd-links.secretariat(@)iiasa.ac.at.

Side event at COP23 – 6 November 2017 – National decarbonization pathways toward 1.5 & 2°C and impacts on SDGs

CD-LINKS will be holding a side event at the 23rd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 23, 6-17 November 2017).

The latest findings on ratcheting up the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) toward the 1.5 and 2°C goals of the Paris Agreement and implications for sustainable development will be presented in the event titled Climate & Development Links: National decarbonization pathways toward 1.5 & 2°C and impacts on SDGs.

During the event the scientists of the project will compare strategies to reach the 1.5 and 2°C goals for key countries like Brazil, China, the European Union, and India.

View of Rocinha, the largest favela in Brazil – shutterstock ©

The agenda and announcement are available to download.

The event will be in partnership with:

Time and date: 15:00-16:30 on 6 November 2017

Location: Meeting room 12, Bonn Zone, COP23, Germany

For more information, contact: cd-links.secretariat(@)iiasa.ac.at.

CD-LINKS at the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA)

On 10 May the CD-LINKS project was presented at a poster session of the 9^th annual meeting of the SBSTA Research Dialogue. The purpose of the research dialogue is to collaborate with invited research programmes and organisations to inform the SBSTA of developments in research activities relevant to the needs of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

A side event co-hosted by IIASA and IDDRI ‘Ratcheting up nationally determined contributions (NDCs): Consistent national roadmaps towards the global objective of 1.5 and 2°C’ was also held at the SBSTA on 13 May. The side event was chaired by Keywan Riahi and Valentina Bosetti and highlighted the collaboration of the 19 institutes from Europe, Asia and the Americas brought together by the CD-LINKS project.

©ShutterStock

During the side event, the viable strategies for ratcheting up the NDCs and their implications for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were presented. The SDG assessments were presented by Volker Krey, who stated during the event that climate and development agendas are inextricably linked: the transformation towards a low carbon world is expected to have notable impacts on other development goals. Poverty reduction and reducing inequalities (SDGs 1, 10, 5), food security (SDG 2), health issues (SDG 3), water availability (SDG6), energy poverty (SDG 7), economic growth, innovation and employment (SDG 8, 9) can be linked, in either reinforcing or counteracting ways, to climate action (SDG 13).

The global transformation pathways based on the climate policy objectives under the Paris Agreement and the NDCs was presented by Detlef Van Vuuren. A policy perspective on the NDCs and the national transformation pathways: case of China was presented by Niklas Höhne, Jiang Kejun and Chen Wenying. The national transformation pathways: case of India and Brazil was presented by Ritu Mathur and Roberto Schaeffer.

Based on an analysis of the NDCs and pathways to achieve the 1.5 and 2°C targets, the implications for achieving the SDGs, and how a more stringent climate action could foster a transformation with positive feedbacks was analysed. This analysis aims at informing the 2018 facilitative dialogue under the Paris Agreement and indicates that:

Climate change mitigation generates significant synergies with air quality improvements, thus reducing negative health impacts of air pollution (SDG 3).
Inclusive development and climate policies are key to reduce risk of hunger for simultaneous achievement of SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
Options are available to pursue stringent climate mitigation without increasing water demand (SDG 6), e.g. through water-efficient cooling technologies or structural change in power generation, or by reducing energy demand.
Inclusive policies which combine target emission reductions while also supporting low income households, allow stringent climate protection without deteriorating access to clean energy services (SDG 7).

A discussion was held as part of the side event, which included an observation that a commitment regarding the SDGs is missing, as there is only broad monitoring of the NDCs currently in place. It was proposed that NDCs for SDGs are needed to help make the SDGs tangible and to also facilitate a connection between the SDGs and climate action. For example, the decision to build a cement factory in Africa would be unacceptable purely from a climate perspective, but would be acceptable from a development perspective.

Achieving climate change and sustainable development objectives: national de-carbonisation roadmaps

A CD-LINKS side event for the Vienna Energy Forum was held on 12 May 2017.

The side event introduced the most recent outcomes of the CD-LINKS project. Utilising the knowledge of 19 different international research organisations from around the globe, the project explores national and global climate and energy transformation strategies and their linkages to a range of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

During the side event, the energy and climate policy measures that would be needed to reach the well below 2°C target, and a comparison with the current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) was presented. The well below 2°C target was established through the Paris Agreement, which is within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The NDCs are the climate actions pledged by countries under the Paris Agreement for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. The side event was chaired by Keywan Riahi and Valentina Bosetti.

Part of the CD-LINKS project assesses the implications of the NDCs for the SDGs, such as poverty, food security, water, biodiversity, air pollution and health. The team of international researchers working on the project have considered and analyzed how more stringent climate action could foster an energy transformation with positive additional feedbacks with regards to the SDGs.

The SDGs cannot be seen as isolated targets, and so important interlinkages between the individual goals have been identified. For example, the goal of Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), can be seen to have direct or indirect linkages to all of the other goals. Energy policies have especially notable impacts on poverty reduction and reducing inequalities (SDGs 1, 10, 5), food security (SDG 2), health issues (SDG 3), water availability (SDG 6), economic growth and employment (SDG 8), industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9) and climate action (SDG 13), in the same way as these dimensions will affect energy policy. The SDG assessments were presented by Volker Krey at the side event.

Representatives of the two Chinese partners (Jiang Kejun and Chen Wenying), and the Indian (Ritu Mathur) and Brazilian (Roberto Schaeffer) partners of the CD-LINKS project presented country-level strategies for climate and energy transformation pathways for the future that support the global target of staying well below 2°C, together with initial results on their impact on other sustainable development dimensions.

During the event a question and answer session followed each presentation. Questions that were asked included the role of gas in India’s transformation, the electrification of transport in Brazil (e.g. trains) and whether the project has identified which holistic SDG policies have found to work in practice.