SDG 13 'TAKE URGENT ACTION TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS IMPACTS'

Climate change is one of the greatest common concerns of human kind. SDG 13 “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts” highlights the three main dimensions of climate change: urgency, mitigation action to address the causes of climate change and adaptation to its negative impacts. This chapter starts by describing the travaux that led to the adoption of SDG 13. The second and third parts examine SDG 13 against the backdrop of relevant general principles of international law and the multilateral climate change regime. The fourth section looks at how climate change is addressed by other areas of international law, such as human rights instruments, trade and investment agreements, as well as relevant jurisprudence The fifth part examines the targets of SDG 13 with the aim to provide an overview of the climate change legal and policy responses at the international, regional and national level.