UN to Convene Global Experts in Tokyo on 4-6 March to Assess Climate Action Targets under Sustainable Development Goals

UN to Convene Global Experts in Tokyo on 4-6 March to Assess Climate Action Targets under Sustainable Development Goals

Press release

(1 March 2024) -- The United Nations is convening over sixty climate and development experts from around the world in Tokyo from 4-6 March to assess progress on climate action targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and strategize recommendations to accelerate action.

The expert meeting is mandated as part of preparations for the review this year of SDG 13 on climate action, as part of the annual assessment of where we stand on implementing the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, to take place at the UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) in July 2024.

Experts from think tanks, academia, NGOs, the private sector and Governments, as well as from the UN system and other international organizations, will be meeting as convened by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), hosted by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan. The meetings are co-organized with the UN University, and supported by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES).

Urgent climate action needed

The experts will be looking at issues under SDG 13, by which countries committed to taking urgent climate action, such as:  how to strengthen resilience to climate disasters; how to realign financial flows and mobilize the massive finance needed for climate action and a just transition, particularly in developing countries; and how to better integrate climate concerns into national policies and planning across the board, as well as how to improve education and public awareness about reducing emissions and adapting to new climate realities.

Aligned with recent decisions by governments at COP28 to work towards a just and inclusive transition towards net-zero and climate-compatible pathways, experts at the Tokyo meetings will also examine how the Sustainable Development Goal targets can be better integrated into each country's updated commitments (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement; how to support the climate-related needs of indigenous peoples, women, youth and other vulnerable groups; and how to promote capacity for climate action in least developed countries and small island nations.

Also taking place in Tokyo over those three days, the independent Expert Group on Climate and SDG Synergy will meet in person to continue its work building evidence for the co-benefits of tackling the climate and SDG crises together, synergistically. Following recent consultations, the group is planning to issue an expanded and more inclusive 2024 edition of its groundbreaking  2023 Global Report on Climate and SDG Synergy.  

Despite progress in many areas, both the SDGs and climate action are far off track from the targets set under the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement, with the negative impacts of climate change growing in intensity each year.  UN Secretary-General António Guterres sees the two agendas as closely interlinked, stating that “climate action is the 21st century's greatest opportunity to drive forward all the Sustainable Development Goals."

A public event -- both in-person in Tokyo and virtual -- is being organized on 6 March on climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, looking at synergistic approaches to addressing this triple planetary crisis. More information is available online.

Media Contacts

• UN DESA: Pragati Pascale, pascale@un.org (in New York); Yaryna Shura, yaryna.shura@un.org (in Tokyo)
• UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC): press@unfccc.int
• UN Department of Global Communications: Francyne Harrigan, harriganf@un.org
• Web: sdgs.un.org/climate-sdgs-synergies | Twitter/X: @SustDev

PDF file of the press release available here.

Photo: UN Women/Joe Saade