In September 2015, the UN adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that sets forth a plan of action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity and peace for all by 2030. The Agenda is made up of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are broken down into 169 targets that set out key quantitative and qualitative drivers of sustainable development.

The SDGs build upon their predecessors, the Millennium Development Goals, and are ambitious, integrated, and universal. The goals aim to combat the most pressing global issues by balancing economic growth, social development, and environmental protection, and are bound by the principle of “leaving no one behind”.

Climate Action and the SDGs

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time for achieving sustainable development, and the adverse impacts of climate change have the ability to undermine the progress of all countries in achieving the SDGs. Action towards combatting climate change therefore underpins the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

Given the importance of tackling climate change on a global scale, the UNFCCC’s Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015 which calls for ambitious climate action and sets the target of limiting a global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius.

CO2balance and the SDGs

Through our commitment to delivering high impact projects to mitigate climate change in some of the poorest areas of the world, CO2balance delivers real and measurable benefits to the communities that we work with. As well as producing significant emission reductions, our projects are dedicated to achieving demonstrable impacts towards sustainable development.

Our projects are certified under the award-winning Gold Standard accreditation body. In 2017, Gold Standard launched Gold Standard for the Global Goals, a standard that requires projects to demonstrate a clear and direct contribution to at least 3 SDGs, to accelerate global progress towards climate security and sustainable development.

Through Gold Standard for the Global Goals, our projects monitor qualitative and quantitative indicators towards key SDGs, producing Gold Standard recognised SDG contributions.