Goal 13: Climate Action
Goal 13: Take Urgent Action to Combat Climate Change and its impacts
Climate change is one of the most significant challenges of our lifetime, putting natural ecosystems at risk of permanent loss and destruction and posing a risk to our health and livelihood.
The UN reports that: ‘the year 2019 was the second warmest on record and the end of the warmest decade, 2010 to 2019; and with a global average temperature of 1.1°C above estimated pre-industrial levels, the global community is far off track to meet either the 1.5 or 2°C targets called for in the Paris Agreement’.
Climate change is resulting in climate hazard events and disasters, which are increasing both in frequency and intensity. Floods, heatwaves, cyclones, wildfires, hurricanes, droughts and landslides are impacting the global population disproportionately; putting more vulnerable groups (i.e. women, children, the elderly, people with disability and the poor) at risk and disrupting education, food supplies and access to clean water. Goal 13 aims to strengthen community resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and disasters in all countries.
The UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 has resulted in 85 countries putting in place some type of disaster risk reduction strategy or plan. Goal 13 aims to further enhance the integration of climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning by 2030. It also seeks to raise awareness, improve education and increase institutional capacity in order to effectively tackle the challenge of climate change.
Australia's Progress towards Goal 13
The global Sustainable Development Report 2020, released in July 2020, ranks Australia third among OECD countries for the effectiveness of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, beaten by only South Korea and Latvia. However, we perform extremely poorly in energy (goal 7), climate change (goal 13), and responsible consumption and production (goal 12), where our reliance on fossil fuels and wasteful business practices puts us near the bottom of the field.
The Transforming Australia: SDG Progress Report provides key information about how Australia is progressing towards achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Visit the Transforming Australia website to see more about Australia’s progress towards Goal 13.
Do you want to know how to achieve the SDGs?
MSDI has partnered with McMaster University to create the world's most comprehensive repository of research evidence. Click here for the latest evidence and research from around the world aligned with Goal 13.
How is Monash helping to combat climate change?
Our Sustainability Strategy
Our commitment to sustainability is set out in our Sustainability Strategy and we continue to operate and expand programs across campuses in support of our goal to be an exemplar of environmental practice.
Our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) statement and reporting outlines how Monash is tackling climate change through teaching, engagement, research, investments and campus operations.
Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub
The Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub conducts social research and leads impact focused projects to build media and policy infrastructure that adequately addresses climate change in Australia.
Monash University became an official Observer Organisation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2016 and has since sent annual delegations to their Conference of Parties. In December 2019, a delegation of 16 staff and students attended the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid.
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