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United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development
Goals
13

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

Targets and Indicators

Target

13.1

Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries

13.1.1

Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population

13.1.2

Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030

13.1.3

Proportion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with national disaster risk reduction strategies

Target

13.2

Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning

13.2.1

Number of countries with nationally determined contributions, long-term strategies, national adaptation plans and adaptation communications, as reported to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

13.2.2

Total greenhouse gas emissions per year

Target

13.3

Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning

13.3.1

Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment

Target

13.a

Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible

13.a.1

Amounts provided and mobilized in United States dollars per year in relation to the continued existing collective mobilization goal of the $100 billion commitment through to 2025

Target

13.b

Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries and small island developing States, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalized communities  

13.b.1

Number of least developed countries and small island developing States with nationally determined contributions, long-term strategies, national adaptation plans and adaptation communications, as reported to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Progress and Info

The world is on the brink of a climate catastrophe and current actions and plans to address the crisis are insufficient. Without transformative action starting now and within this decade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions deeply and rapidly in all sectors, the 1.5°C target will be at risk and with it the lives of more than 3 billion people. Failure to act leads to intensifying heatwaves, droughts, flooding, wildfires, sea-level rise, and famines. Emissions should already be decreasing now and will need to be cut almost by half by 2030 - a mere seven years from now. To combat climate change and its impacts by 2030, urgent and transformative action is needed to meet the commitments under the Paris Agreement across mitigation and adaptation efforts.

  • Target 13.1: The number of deaths and missing persons due to disasters per 100,000 population has steadily decreased from 1.64 during 2005-2015 to 0.86 during 2012-2021. The average disaster mortality stood at 47,337 in absolute terms in 2015-2021. However, the number of persons affected by disasters per 100,000 people rose from 1,198 during 2005-2015 to 2,113 during 2012-2021. The number of countries with national strategies for disaster risk reduction has increased from 55 in 2015 to 126 by the end of 2021. Based on this, a total of 118 countries have reported having some level of policy coherence with other global frameworks, such as the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement.
  • Target 13.2: Global temperatures have already hit 1.1°C, rising due to increasing global greenhouse gas emissions, which reached record highs in 2021. Real-time data from 2022 show emissions continuing an upward trajectory. Instead of decreasing emissions as required by the target to limit warming, carbon dioxide levels increased from 2020 to 2021 at a rate higher than the average annual growth rate of the last decade and is already 149% higher than pre-industrial levels. Projected cumulative future CO2 emissions over the lifetime of existing and currently planned fossil fuel infrastructure exceed the total cumulative net CO2 emissions in pathways that limit warming to 1.5°C (>50%) with no or limited overshoot.
  • Target 13.3: An analysis of 100 national curriculum frameworks reveals that nearly half (47%) do not mention climate change. In 2021, despite 95% of teachers recognizing the importance of teaching about climate change severity, only one-third are capable of effectively explaining its effects in their region. Additionally, 70% of young people can only describe the broad principles of climate change in 2022.
  • Target 13.a: According to the OECD, total climate finance provided and mobilised by developed countries for developing countries amounted to $83.3 billion in 2020, a 4% increase from 2019, but still short of the $100 billion target. Climate finance remains primarily targeted to mitigation; however, and adaptation finance continues to lag, with international finance flows to developing countries 5-10 times below estimated needs.