To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we must address climate change. The Paris Agreement clearly states that our collective goal should be to hold the global temperature rise to well below 2°C and pursue efforts to limit this increase to 1.5°C. Pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C is critical so that all countries take strong and ambitious action on the ground.

The findings of this report suggest that working to achieve 1.5°C may make it easier to meet several of the SDGs.  Renewable energy and the potential it has to plug off-grid power gaps, for example, may be indispensable to achieving universal energy access. Reducing vulnerability of food systems can help to end hunger and malnutrition around the world.

We also learn in the report that global and local priorities can and do intersect. That happens, for instance, when building a waste-to-energy plant instead of a coal station not only cuts future emissions but also brings jobs to a community while protecting local water and biodiversity. Above all though we learn that global cooperation–North-South, South-South, and even South-North–will be critical, lowering the barriers and costs for all concerned.