Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
2019 was the second warmest year on record, and capped off the warmest decade in history (2010-2019). In 2015, 196 countries entered into the Paris Agreement with the goal of limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius (preferably under 1.5 degrees) compared to pre-industrial levels. We are not on track to meet those goals. Although emissions are expected to drop by roughly 6% in 2020 due to travel bans and the economic slowdown, this is a temporary reprieve, and still short of the 7.6% needed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. Below are some other statistics related to Goal 13 from the United Nations;
- Global temperatures are expected to rise roughly 3.2 degrees Celsius by 2100
- In 2016, investments in Fossil Fuels were 15% higher than the investments in Climate Activities
- Climate change increases the frequency and severity of natural disasters, which affected nearly 40 million people in 2018
- Global emissions have increased by more than 600% in the last 100 years, and by more than 50% since 1990
- The Arctic Sea Ice Extent has decreased in every decade since 1979 at an average of over 1 million square kilometers per decade
- Only 85 countries have National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies in alignment with the Sendai Framework
- For more statistics related to Climate Action, please see the Goal 13 Progress site here
Goal 13 Targets:
- 13.1 Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries
- 13.2 Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning
- 13.3 Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning
- 13.A Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible
- 13.B Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries and small island developing States, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalized communities
This Month’s Challenge:
In February 2021, we are sharing more datasets thanks to our friends at the Centre for Humanitarian Data. Links to a number of datasets from the Humanitarian Data Exchange related to consumption and production can be found on our data.world site here. And as always, we are sharing Goal related data from the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goal Database, with regional data on all of the targets listed above.
If you would like participate, you can use data from any source, but the overall goal is to focus your analysis on some of the topics mentioned in the Targets section above. If you come across other interesting datasets, please let us know so we can add them to our data.world project. The deadline for submission will be February 28, 2021. Make sure to tag us in your submission, add the #TheSDGVizProject hashtag, and add your submission to #TheSDGVizProject tracker.
As we mentioned on our Home page, building a viz is not the only way to participate. Our main goal is to spread awareness, so if you see a viz with #TheSDGVizProject, please share it. And keep an eye out for a post at the end of the month with ways that you can contribute to this month’s goal.
Sources:
Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX)