Activities at the Climate and SDGs Synergy Conference

Photo: Gabriela Iacobuta on the podium

Gabriela Iacobuta

DIE and its partner, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), were involved in two sessions of the Climate and SDGs Synergy Conference. The conference was organised by UN DESA and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC) and took place from 1-3 April in Copenhagen, Denmark.

In the capacity building session, Gabriela Iacobuta (DIE) presented findings from the NDC-SDG Connections, a data visualisation that analyses and compares how climate actions formulated in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) corresponds to each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Presentations of relevant tools were followed by discussions with policy makers on the role of such tools in capacity building for the implementation of the climate and sustainable development agendas.

Dr. Hannah Janetschek (DIE) organised and moderated a session on the just transition towards low-carbon societies and leaving no one behind (LNOB). This session featured researchers, policy makers, civil society and indigenous people who identified key areas of concern, presented existing tools and good practices, and suggested future avenues. The challenges of coal-rich countries to ensure a just transition for workers in the coal sector were presented for South Africa (Prabhat Uphadyaya, WWF) and Germany (Frederik Moch, German Trade Union). Moreover, human rights were discussed.