Background paper on the sub-theme “Scaling-up climate action”

Abstract

Climate change is a cross-cutting issue that can seriously impede the achievement of all Sustainable Development Goals. Furthermore, as a “threat multiplier”, climate change aggravates existing vulnerabilities and structural inequalities. Urgent and ambitious global action on climate change, well beyond current pledges under the Paris Agreement, must therefore be taken in order to safeguard development agenda for Africa, as articulated in national development plans, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063 of the African Union. This paper is presented the background paper prepared by the Economic Commission for Africa with contributions from the United Nations Environment Program, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the International Organization for Migration. Climate change and development are inseparable. Climate change is the consequence of current global production and consumption patterns and the resulting increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The average global temperature increased by 0.85 degrees Celsius between 1880 and 2012. However, Africa has been experiencing significantly higher and continuous warming.