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Understanding institutional settings and governance processes is critical to the effective delivery of climate technology solutions for low-carbon and climate-resilient development in Asian cities. Creating the appropriate enabling environment for the development and transfer of climate technologies becomes imperative in this context. This requires...

The Emissions Gap Report 2021: The Heat Is On is the 12th edition in an annual series that provides an overview of the difference between where greenhouse emissions are predicted to be in 2030 and where they should be to avert the worst impacts of climate change.

Japan has raised its climate ambition by declaring its commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and by setting a new target of reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 46% against 2013 levels by 2030. This chapter provides a perspective on how Japan’s ambition has evolved since 2015, in terms of domestic discourse, governance to...

Asia and the Pacific’s unrelenting industrial development has been a driving force in the economic growth of scores of countries in the region and beyond. This shift has led to greater prosperity, increased urbanization and sustained population growth. Yet as the region has become the “world’s factory”, it is increasingly realizing not only the...

An analysis of pathways towards sustainable development needs a long-term vision. Ideally, such a vision is summarized in a quantitative set of globally agreed key objectives or targets. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted in September 2015, conceptualizes sustainable development through 17 SDGs and is further operationalized...

Providing a decent life and well-being for nearly 10 billion1 people by 2050, without further compromising the ecological limits of our planet and its benefits, is one of the most serious challenges and responsibilities humanity has ever faced. People worldwide rely on the smooth functioning of Earth’s natural life-support systems, in different...

This chapter evaluates the capacity of environmental policies to achieve transformational change in addressing cross-cutting global sustainable development challenges. To this end, the chapter addresses the major challenges of adapting socioeconomic systems to climate change, creating a sustainable agricultural and food production system...

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, together with a range of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), set an ambitious long-term vision for the universal pursuit of sustainable development through economic, social, environmental and institutional transformation (Chapter 20). Although progress has been made in managing some...

The composition of Earth’s atmosphere is one of the major determinants of a healthy planet, influencing the climate, ecosystems and human health. This is highlighted by the existence of a direct or indirect link between the challenges of air pollution, climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, persistent bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT)...

This chapter introduces Part B of GEO-6: Policies, Goals, Objectives and Environmental Governance: An Assessment of Their Effectiveness.