Theme

The year 2015 marks an important milestone when the UN General Assembly is expected to come up with and set Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be accepted by all the countries of the world. The process for establishing the SDGs was taken in hand as a major outcome of the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. It was agreed at that Conference by the Member States to launch the process for development of a set of SDGs which would build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and converge with the post-2015 global development agenda. It was decided to establish an "inclusive and transparent intergovernmental process open to all stakeholders, with a view to developing global sustainable development goals to be agreed by the General Assembly". Prior to this the UN Secretary General had established a High-level Panel on Global Sustainability co-chaired by Mrs. Tarja Halonen, President of Finland and Mr. Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa. This Panel completed its work and submitted its report to the UN Secretary General in January 2012.

The UN General Assembly while formulating and laying down the SDGs would be required to adhere to work done in this area in the past including Agenda 21 which came into existence in the first Rio Summit in 1992 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation agreed on in 2002. Among the requirements for setting SDGs there is an explicit need to ensure active involvement of all relevant stakeholders, as appropriate, in the process. The Delhi Sustainable Development Summit has now grown to a stature which enables the presence of world leaders, the greatest thinkers of our generation including Nobel Prize winners and leaders drawn from business, civil society and academia. The Summit which would be held in New Delhi during February 5-7, 2015, would be a unique opportunity to focus on the SDGs and provide vital inputs to the process being followed by the UN General Assembly. The benefit and value of the output on the SDGs to be produced at DSDS 2015 would be that this would be an effort totally unencumbered by official limitations and the result of deliberations involving all stakeholders and the most creative minds.

An Open Working Group has been established under the UN consisting of 30 countries tasked with recommending a new set of SDGs. This Working Group is in the process of preparing a report with its recommendations which will be submitted for consideration by the Member States of the UN. Several issues are likely to define the establishment and acceptance of the SDGs. These would involve:

• 1. Current patterns of consumption and production
• 2. Current trends in growth of demand for energy and the outlook for supply prospects
• 3. Exploitation of resources of various kinds of land as well as those in the oceans
• 4. Management of water resources for meeting the needs of present as well as future generations
• 5. Dealing with the challenge of climate change
• 6. Protection of forests and biodiversity
• 7. Dealing with hunger and malnutrition and eradicating poverty
• 8. Dealing with growing income and wealth disparities across the globe

The period just following DSDS 2015 would be one of major activity and hectic discussions for the UN General Assembly as it arrives at acceptance of these SDGs. By the time DSDS 2015 takes place there would also have been substantial progress made towards definition and agreement on these Goals. Hence, early February 2015 would present a unique and timely opportunity for mobilizing the collective intellect of the participants of DSDS in focusing on the state of development of the SDGs that would exist by then under the UN General Assembly process and to be able to provide valuable inputs by which progress could be facilitated in the ensuing period.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) would have completed its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) by the end of October 2014. This report would not only provide updated knowledge on the physical science basis of climate change but would also have completed its reports related to the contributions of Working Groups II and III as well as the Synthesis Report which would bring together synthesized knowledge from these three Working Group reports as well as two Special Reports on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation (SRREN) and Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX), both completed in 2011. The Synthesis Report and its Summary for Policymakers is expected to present updated knowledge in an integrated manner which would help the world understand the nature of climate change and its impacts across the globe as well as pathways by which mitigation can be taken in hand. It would also provide knowledge and understanding on adaptation measures that would be relevant in several parts of the world. AR5 would be an important fund of knowledge to drive global negotiations towards an agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) expected to be reached in the 21st Conference of the Parties later in the year in Paris. DSDS 2015 would be a powerful opportunity to move the world towards the agreement coming as it does after the UN Secretary General’s Summit in New York on September 23, 2014. DSDS 2015 would also provide an opportune platform for creating widespread awareness on the scientific reality of climate change to facilitate an agreement being reached in Paris.

Sub-Themes

1. From MDGs to SDGs and Addressing Climate Change

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) represented a concerted global effort to bring about a significant reduction in poverty across the globe. Performance on each of the MDGs as well as in different countries presents a mixed picture. It remains, therefore, very much in the nature of unfinished business. In 2015 the UN General Assembly will approve of a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which would ensure due respect to the intent and nature of the MDGs and should not lose sight of the MDGs. At the same time it is expected that the world would arrive at an agreement to deal effectively with climate change at the 21st Conference of the Parties to be held in Paris later this year. Leaders across the world, therefore, have to face the challenge of connecting these three elements to ensure effective global action towards a clean, stable and sustainable future for human society as well as all species on planet earth.

2. Sustainable Production and Consumption: Policy and Practice

The ecosystems of this planet and a vast range of natural resources are under stress which is likely to increase on account of growth in income and population. The work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) clearly shows that climate change would exacerbate existing stresses in society. There is, therefore, the imperative of bringing about shifts in production and consumption, including substitution of current inputs to the production process with alternatives, which would reduce the negative externalities on the earth’s ecosystems and the environment.

3. Engaging All Stakeholders for the Future We Want

A transformation to a sustainable future for human society cannot be achieved only through government policies no matter how powerful a governing system is in any country. Transformation would be possible only if we pursue an inclusive pathway leading to change, which involves action by government, business, civil society, research institutions and academia and the public at large. The challenge, therefore, is to see that we create conditions which attract the involvement of all stakeholders. This may require a set of incentives and disincentives as well as large scale information dissemination. How do we create conditions and take steps to engage all stakeholders to achieve the future we want?

4. SDGs in a World of Wealth and Income Disparities

The world has probably never seen the extent of economic disparities that exist today. It is now widely expected that human society cannot be better off if a large number of people live in a state of deprivation. The SDGs which will come into existence this year will have to address priorities dealing with actions that benefit the poorest of the poor as well as provide enlightenment to those who are rich and prosperous to ensure that they take steps for attaining sustainable patterns of growth and development. The SDGs would have to establish a relevance for every economic class and section of society.

5. Sustainability, Climate Change and Corporate Sector Initiatives

It is often said that on the issue of awareness and actions towards sustainability the corporate sector is perhaps ahead of governments. Some say this even in the context of climate change, because there are some companies which have taken remarkable steps not only to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, but also adapt effectively to the impacts of climate change. How do we ensure that the corporate sector takes proactive and visionary steps by which it can tackle the twin challenges of sustainability as well as climate change? Essentially, such a move would have to be in the interests of shareholders. The right set of actions would rest on somewhat longer term horizons for decision making and a visionary approach by corporate leaders who consider the twin challenges of sustainability and climate change.

6. The Agreement that the World Needs at COP 21

COP-20 held in Lima, Peru, was successful in advancing a consensual agreement on climate change, on which further action can now be built to arrive at an effective agreement in COP-21 at Paris. Any agreement to deal with climate change must be based on the scientific assessment of climate change including future projections of what would happen if no action is taken as well as options by which action can be taken. At the same time the issues of ethics, equity and sustainability would have to be an important part of the characteristics defining an agreement that is expected to be reached in Paris. We need, therefore, to provide a framework agreement that will then get filled up with ideas and concepts that will be discussed in this session.

7.Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

The Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the IPCC clearly highlights the impacts of climate change, and what would be needed to deal with this challenge. Firstly, the world needs adaptation based on an assessment of specific impacts in different parts of the world, because climate change will continue to be driven by the inherent inertia of the system even if we reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero today. But it is clear that beyond a certain point climate change could cross certain thresholds and tipping points which will lead to significant damage and high levels of risk. Hence, adequate mitigation of emissions of greenhouse gases has to be taken in hand urgently to avoid or minimize some of the worst impacts of climate change. Mitigation, fortunately, does carry several co-benefits which must be assessed as part of the economic rationale for mitigation. It is important to define policies, institutional arrangements and the manner in which adaptation and mitigation should be taken in hand.

8. Climate Change: Ethics, Equity and the Poor

The role of ethics and equity have been highlighted in the assessment carried out by the IPCC as part of the Fifth Assessment Report in the context of solutions that are required to deal with this challenge. It is also relevant to keep in mind the fact that some of the worst impacts of climate change are felt by the poor who are clearly more vulnerable than those with relatively higher incomes. While arriving at solutions it is important to remember that the IPCC AR5 has found that the impacts of climate change can lead to displacement of people and add to the drivers of conflict. Climate change will also lead to an increase in pockets of poverty, particularly in urban areas. Ethics, equity and implications for the poor, therefore, need to be considered as foundations on which adaptation and mitigations measures are designed.

9. Is Action on Climate Change Imperative and Urgent?

The IPCC’s Fifth Assessment report and particularly the Summary for Policymakers as part of the Synthesis Report clearly provide a very succinct but complete assessment of the impacts of climate change in respect of sea level rise, the water cycle, impacts on agriculture and human health, threats to ecosystems and species as well as an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme events. The IPCC’s Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX) which was released in 2011 clearly highlights both the monetized value of losses as a result of climate change as well as those losses such as cultural values, ecosystems and human lives on which a monetary value cannot be attached. Climate change, therefore, has increasing economic impacts which are largely negative as well as other effects which cannot be measured in monetary terms. The threat of extinction to some species occurs even with a temperature increase of 1oC above pre-industrial level. All of this, therefore, adds substantial urgency to the need for taking action in the field of climate change.

Background Note

Sustainable Development Goals and Dealing with Climate Change

The year 2015 marks an important milestone when the UN General Assembly is expected to come up with a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be accepted by all the countries of the world. The process for establishing the SDGs was taken in hand as a major outcome of the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

The process being followed is an elaborate one, because it has to take into account the interests, concerns and priorities of all the diverse nations which form the membership of the United Nations. The SDGs have also to build on the background of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), for which targets had been set for achievement by 2015.

In 2014 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) brought out its Fifth Assessment Report which has essentially highlighted the urgency for action to deal with climate change. The global community has to take in hand effective adaptation measures, since some extent of climate change is inevitable on account the past concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the earth’s atmosphere. However, adaptation would not be feasible beyond a certain stage, because the impacts of climate change could pass certain thresholds and tipping points, enhancing the risks for human beings as well as other species on this planet. Hence, action would have to be initiated early for mitigating the emissions of GHGs. The global community, therefore, has a comprehensive challenge on its hands which would require the articulation of SDGs and a transition to these from the MDGs as well as a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures by which, as laid down in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, we are able to “prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”.

DSDS 2015 focuses on this complex set of challenges which need to be addressed in a comprehensive and coordinated manner. It is important for all stakeholders to realize that this opportunity to formulate the SDGs and to arrive at an agreement on climate change requires an enlightened approach, which would be strengthened by the intellectual capacity of leaders assembled at DSDS 2015, representing every section of human society.