Goal 13 Agenda 2030:

The importance of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

On 25 September 2015, the 193 member states of the UN approved the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an ambitious plan that sets out to achieve prosperity that is respectful of the planet and its inhabitants.

This Agenda is made up of 17 Goals, divided into 169 targets, to be met by 2030 with the intention of "leaving no-one behind". The threat of climate change is now more real than ever and the SDGs are crucial if we want to avoid compromising our children's future.

On its 5th anniversary, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic was and is still devastating health and economy, this route map is more important than ever as a way towards a green recovery.

For years scientists have warned us that environmental problems, which are the consequence of human activity, represent a danger both to our health and that of the planet. The coronavirus has shown us that we are not immune to these threats and their impact must not allow us to forget the great challenge facing humanity: the fight against climate change. Organisations including the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have already come out in favour of a Green Recovery. To overcome this health, financial and social crisis by following the path mapped out by the 2030 Agenda in the search for a more sustainable world.

Also the 2030 Agenda is a continuation of the UN Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015) which were in their day the first international consensus on facing global problems such as the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, and to promote improvements in access to education. Although the targets were not fully achieved, they nevertheless provided the basis for significant progress which, in 2015, was extended through the 2030 Agenda and its respective SDGs.

In particular Goal 13 has 5 targets that cover a wide range of issues surrounding climate action. The first 3 are "output targets": strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related disasters; integrate climate change measures into policies and planning; build knowledge and capacity to meet climate change. The remaining 2 targets are "means of achieving targets": to implement the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and to promote mechanisms to raise capacity for planning and management.