Help us discover new solutions that help reach SDG #13 – combatting climate change.
Sustainia is on a quest to map out the newest market opportunities for a better tomorrow, and we’re calling on you to help us discover new solutions that are addressing the global goals in need of urgent attention if we are to deliver on their aims by 2030. Here we dive into Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13: take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Climate change has been described by global leaders as the greatest threat facing mankind. Ever since the industrial revolution, our economy has been driven by burning fossil fuels, leading to an exponential increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide content, the level of which has not been this high in the past 400,000 years.
The effects of climate change will be global in nature, last for centuries and will disproportionately affect the poorest (who are also the least responsible). Economic costs of climate change are notoriously difficult to estimate but it has been suggested that failure to limit warming to 1.5 degrees celsius would cost up to 10% of global GDP. SDG 13 is aimed at accelerating a path that both mitigates against and adapts to future climate change, minimising the social, environmental and economic damage.
Whilst some developed countries are reducing carbon emissions, the atmospheric concentration of carbon continues to skyrocket, raising global temperatures, acidifying the oceans, raising sea levels and intensifying extreme weather events. 2015’s Paris agreement was a big step in the right direction, but forecasts suggest that our commitment to tackling climate change is not sufficient, and must be accelerated in order to keep temperature increase to within 2 degrees celsius.
Where are the opportunities?
Is there a sound business case for tackling climate change? “The answer is an unqualified yes.”
Stephen Badger – Chairman of Mars Inc.
The global market for low-carbon goods and services is already worth $5.5 trillion a year, and growing fast. Sales in electric vehicles for example are expected to grow 20-fold, to $244 billion by 2025. This graph shows that firms who seize the opportunity to act on climate change are seeing growth almost 10% higher than other top companies. SDG 13 is an opportunity for business, demanded for by the people.
This is where we need you!
Do you know about a solution that is helping to mitigate or adapt to climate change? It could be a new carbon-negative plastic that captures carbon from the air and uses it to make new materials, or a revolutionary zero-carbon way to transport goods. We need your help to identify solutions that are readily available, financially viable, scaleable, have the capacity to improve quality of life, and have a positive environmental impact. We aim to showcase the best submitted solutions online and feature them in an upcoming report to show business around the world that there are commercial opportunities in all SDGs – but especially in the ones currently lagging behind. What solution has just popped into you mind?
Learn more about Sustainia’s crowdsourcing campaign, which seeks to identify solutions addressing the four SDGs (SDG 10, 12, 13 and 14) we are least on track to reach by 2030.
You can also check out the SDG 13 solutions we already feature on Global Opportunity Explorer.
Author: Nic Craig