Climate Action Powers Up the Global Goals

The recently adopted Global Goals for Sustainable Development are a positive step towards tackling climate change and creating a poverty-free and more equal world. However, we now need to move beyond just commitments, says CARE International, as millions of people across the world take the streets today on the Global Day of Climate Action to demand for more climate actions to realise the new global agenda.

Tomorrow, 27 September, selected Heads of State will meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in New York after the UN General Assembly to discuss the impending Paris climate agreement. The discussion is likely to focus on ways forward to phase out fossil fuel emissions altogether and to agree a support package to help poor countries to build their resilience to deal with irreversible loss and damage from climate change impacts.

“Poverty, inequality and climate change are the biggest crises of our time. They are profoundly linked and cannot be fixed in isolation”, says Wolfgang Jamann, Secretary General and CEO of CARE International. “This is clearly reflected in the new Global Goals. What we need now is for governments to realise their commitments and the next key step is to ensure that we get an equitable and ambitious climate deal from the UN climate conference in Paris this December. Without action on climate change and a strong Paris climate deal, the Global Goals will most certainly fail at the expense of the poor and vulnerable.”

CARE International calls upon Head of States gathered in New York to show global leadership and clear commitment for a strong Paris climate agreement and domestic action, which will ensure a better life for current and future generations. Countries must pave the way for limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and tackle the dangerous climate impacts which are already eroding the livelihoods of poor people and communities around the world.

CARE International is a leading humanitarian organisation fighting global poverty and delivering lifesaving assistance in emergencies. In 90 countries around the world, CARE places special focus on working alongside poor girls and women to equip them with the proper resources to lift their families and communities out of poverty. To learn more about CARE International’s work on climate change, please visit www.careclimatechange.org. Their most recent publication can be downloaded here.