Synergy Solutions for a World in Crisis: Tackling Climate and SDG Action Together

We must change course. Without synergies, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate objectives remain out of reach. The evidence is clear: addressing climate change and achieving the SDGs are inextricably intertwined. Co-benefits far outweigh trade-offs. By maximizing these synergies, we can also bridge investment gaps worth trillions of dollars. Synergistic action should be a required component of national commitments, reporting and financing for climate and development goals. We must act on the climate emergency and sustainable development together now, or we risk not solving them at all. In May 2023 UNDESA and UNFCCC Secretariat co-convened the Expert Group on Climate and SDG Synergy. The Group consists of 14 renowned experts from diverse thematic and geographic backgrounds who were given the task of developing the First Global Report on Climate and SDG Synergies. This report demonstrates that aggressively acting on climate and development in an integrated and synergistic way is an important opportunity to achieve the course correction the UN Secretary- General has called for. It highlights some of the challenges but also the opportunities if the international community is seriously committed to enhancing these synergies and thereby addressing these challenges. The report is designed to provide a broad overview of available data and evidence, insights from experts on the frontlines, and recommendations for enhancing synergistic action across the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. This first edition will form the basis for future iterations, which will entail a wider scope of sectors, and thematic areas and deep dives on specific issues pertaining to strengthening and operationalizing synergic climate and SDG actions at all levels

Harnessing Climate and SDG Synergy: Quantifying the benefits. Third Global Report on Climate and SDGs Synergies

This report builds on the recent work convened and carried out under the umbrella of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This work grew out of global conferences designed to promote synergistic action between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the climate agendas, the Copenhagen Conference in 2019, the Webinars of 2020 and 2021 hosted jointly by the UNDESA and UNFCCC, the Third Global Conference on Synergies of 2022 hosted by the Government of Japan, and subsequent global conferences at UNHQ in New York (2023), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2024) and Copenhagen, Denmark (2025). These global conferences provided the platform, rationale and urgency for the work which has been undertaken since 2023 with the involvement of a distinguished Expert Group convened by UNDESA and UNFCCC, representing several disciplines and regions of the world