Climate Action and the SDGs — Closing Gaps and Strengthening Synergies

---

Various Speakers, UNU-MERIT; UNU-IAS; UNU-EHS; UN DESA

Please register in advance.

Accelerated and equitable climate action is critical to sustainable development, yet a stronger connection is needed between these two global priorities. Scaling up climate action presents gaps and challenges — including trade-offs — as well as opportunities.

This side event of the 2022 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) will identify gaps and needs in knowledge about synergies and trade-offs between climate change and sustainable development. It will explore ways forward in closing these gaps, including research on transformations in energy, food, urban, and other related socio-economic systems. Participants will share examples of synergies, trade-offs, and good practices. The event will discuss options for systemic approaches to transform these systems for sustainability at the local, national, and global scales, enhancing synergies between climate action and other SDGs.

The event will explore the following key questions:

• In what areas do we see the critical gaps between climate action and sustainable development?
• What are the existing and potential ways to close these gaps — minimising trade-offs and promoting co-benefits to realise synergies between climate change and SDGs?
• What role can research and education play in closing the gaps and strengthening the synergies?

This HLPF side event will contribute to preparations for the 3rd Global Conference on Synergy between Climate Change and SDGs, and its outcomes will be presented at the conference in Tokyo in late July. The outcomes will also be important inputs for the Transforming Education Summit, to be convened by the UN Secretary-General during the 77th UN General Assembly.

Participation

This online event will be held on 7 July from 07:30–09:00 EDT (13:30–15:00 CEST). Participation is open to the public.

 

About the speaker

Keynote Speech

• Gabriela Iacobuta (Researcher, German Institute of Development and Sustainability)

Panel Session

• Facilitator: Shen Xiaomeng (UNU Vice-Rector in Europe & Director, UNU-EHS)
• Minoru Takada (Team Leader, Sustainable Energy, UN DESA)
• Sergey Kononov (Manager, Department for Programmes Coordination, UNFCCC Secretariat)
• Bartel Van de Walle (Director, UNU-MERIT)
• Melissa Goodall (Senior Director, Penn Environmental Innovations Initiative, University of Pennsylvania)
• Erick Tambo (Academic Officer, UNU-EHS)
• Junko Akagi (Research Manager, Kitakyushu Urban Centre, IGES)

Date: 07 July 2022

Time: 13:30 - 15:00  CET