Climate action and sustainable development: Synergies and trade-offs presented by Prof Chris Rapley

Presentation by Professor Chris Rapley, Chaired by Professor David Viner,

The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) of the 2015 Paris Climate Change agreement commit the nations of the world to create a better future for humankind and the natural world. However, with the 17 SDGs comprising 169 targets and the 164 NDCs covering more than 7000 actions, the integration into national policies, strategies and planning, in a coherent and synergistic manner, is a monumental challenge. Analysis by the International Council for Science (ICSU) and a tool created by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) provide insights into the myriad interconnections between the SDG targets and NDC actions, and reveal synergies and conflict/trade-offs, some of the latter occurring even within the SDGs. The situation is exacerbated by policy formulation for the SDG and NDC commonly being ’siloed’ into different government departments, which themselves are separated from the departments charged with policy implementation. Whilst the ICSU analysis and SEI tool can assist policy makers, there may be a role for some core principles to guide their work.