Editing IPCC:AR6/WGIII/Chapter-17 (section)

=== 17.1.2 Integrating Climate Change and Sustainable Development in International Policymaking Processes ===

<div id="h2-2-siblings" class="h2-siblings"></div>

Among the reasons for the growing realisation of these interdependencies are milestones in international climate and sustainable development processes. As outlined in Chapter 14, the year 2015 was a turning point due to two agreements: (i) the Paris Agreement; and (ii) the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ( [[#Farzaneh--2021|Farzaneh et al. 2021]] ).

Following a long history of references to sustainable development in the UNFCCC and related agreements, the Paris Agreement helped to strengthen the links between climate and sustainable development by emphasising that sustainability is related to its objectives ( [[#Sindico--2016|Sindico 2016]] ; [[#UNFCCC--2016|UNFCCC 2016]] ). One of the ways that it helped tighten this link is by institutionalising bottom-up pledges and the review architecture. Toward this end, the Paris Agreement instituted Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) as vehicles through which countries make pledges and demonstrate their commitment to climate action. Although there was no clear guidance on what should be included in the NDCs, some of the requirements were elaborated in the Paris Rulebook . Some of the submitted NDCs included only mitigation efforts, but others set out mitigation and adaptation goals aligning NDC commitments to national planning processes, while yet others mentioned links with the SDGs.

Another way that the Paris Agreement and the NDCs could strengthen their links to sustainable development is to update country-specific climate pledges. Countries are free to choose their targets and the means and instruments with which to implement them. A core feature of the NDCs was that countries submit NDCs every five years, giving them an opportunity to assess themselves relative to other countries, raise their ambitions and learn from their peers. Moreover, it was emphasised that countries should not ‘backslide’ in subsequent NDCs, thus ensuring that countries should always be forward-looking in respect of increasing their ambitions to deliver the Paris Goals. ( [[#Höhne--2017|Höhne et al. 2017]] ) found that, in developing countries especially, the NDC preparation process has improved national climate policymaking.

Despite some favourable reviews, several assessments of specific countries’ NDCs ( [[#Andries--2017|Andries et al. 2017]] ; [[#Rogelj--2016|Rogelj et al. 2016]] ; [[#Vandyck--2016|Vandyck et al. 2016]] ) have assessed that those submitted for 2020–2030 are insufficient for delivering on the Paris goals. Updated and/or new NDCs were therefore submitted by the end of 2020. However, an assessment of those NDCs revealed that the level of ambition was significantly lower than the goals of the Paris Agreement ( [[#UNFCCO--2020|UNFCCO 2020]] ) (see also this chapter). One of the urgent calls in Paris was to assess the impacts and efforts that need to be undertaken to keep global warming well below 2°C in relation to pre-industrial levels and evaluate related global GHG emission pathways ( [[#UNFCCC--2015|UNFCCC 2015]] ). Although the initial NDCs fell short of these goals, the idea was that NDCs would be living documents that could ratchet up climate action and ambition.

Countries have also started to take actions on the SDGs themselves ( [[#Antwi-Agyei--2018a|Antwi-Agyei et al. 2018a]] ; [[#UNDESA--2016|UNDESA 2016]] , 2017, 2018). The SDGs were perceived as a novel approach to development and as establishing a universal agenda for the transformation of development patterns and socio-economic systems. At their core, the SDGs hold that building an integrated framework for action necessitates addressing the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development in an integrated manner ( [[#Biermann--2017|Biermann et al. 2017]] ; [[#Kanie--2017|Kanie and Biermann 2017]] ). The SDGs take multiple elements of development into account in aiming to offer coherent, well-integrated, overarching approaches to a range of sustainability challenges, including climate change.

One way a link is made between climate and the SDGs is through Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs). Paralleling the bottom-up orientation of the Paris Agreement and the NDCs, every year approximately forty countries voluntarily share their VNRs with the international community at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF). Even more flexible than the NDCs, the VNRs can include content such as a summary of key policies and measures that are intended to achieve the SDGs, a list of the means of implementation that support the SDGs, and related challenges and needs. The VNRs also often cover SDG 13 (climate action) as well as many other issues connected with climate change. Even with these links, implementation of the SDGs should be mentioned as part of national development processes reflecting different countries’ different priorities, visions and plans (Hanson and Korbla P. Puplampu 2018; [[#Marcotullio--2018|Marcotullio et al. 2018]] ; [[#OECD--2016|OECD 2016]] ; P. Puplampu et al. 2017; [[#Srikanth--2018|Srikanth 2018]] ).

Yet another way that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development underlines the importance of capturing synergies is its calls for policy coherence (SDGs 14 and 17). Policy coherence and integration between sectors are two of the most critical factors in breaking down the silo mode of working of different sectors. Working across climate and other sustainability agendas is essential to coherence.

A final way that the sustainability and climate agendas have been linked is through vertical integration. Following a similar trend that appeared with Agenda 21, for which many cities adopted local plans, a growing number of cities have introduced Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs). The VLRs resemble the VNRs, but place the emphasis on local actions and needs regarding the SDGs (and some links to climate change) ( [[#Ortíz-Moya--2021|Ortíz-Moya et al. 2021]] ). The 2019 SDG Report shows that 150 countries have developed national urban plans, almost half of them also being in the implementation phase ( [[#United%20Nations%20General%20Assembly--2019|United Nations General Assembly 2019]] ).

<div id="17.1.3" class="h2-container"></div>

<span id="integrating-climate-change-and-sustainable-development-in-other-policymaking-processes"></span>