A transition towards environmentally sustainable, low-emissions and climate-resilient development pathways is a critical component of all countries’ ability to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This challenge is prompting new approaches to aligning international development co‑operation with the objectives of the Paris Agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and other international agreements. As such, all development co‑operation providers are becoming increasingly aware of the need to strengthen their efforts to better support development partners in this transition by adopting new commitments, strategies and tools.

The transition towards environmentally sustainable, low-emissions and climate-resilient development pathways is critical for countries’ ability to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As a result, development co-operation providers recognise the need to better support developing countries in this transition. In response to commitments on environment and climate change by Members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) taken at their High-Level Meeting (HLM) in November 2020, this report provides information on: 1) steps taken to pursue more co-ordinated approaches in supporting climate change and environmental objectives; 2) efforts to systematically integrate international environment and climate goals into development co-operation policies; 3) specific approaches to support developing countries in achieving transitions that are environmentally sustainable, low-emissions and climate-resilient; and 4) DAC Members’ policies to better address the particular needs of Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Climate change is a defining challenge of the 21st century, and it is both compounding existing threats to sustainable development as well as creating new obstacles (OECD, 2019[1]). Sustainable development and climate change are therefore inseparable. The latest assessment report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that “human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe” (IPCC, 2021[2]). Heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, tropical cyclones, sea-level rise and ocean warming and acidification are all phenomena that can undermine countries’ ability to achieve the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Assessments by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) have also shown the significant alteration of nature across the globe by multiple human drivers, leading to a rapid decline in the majority of indicators of ecosystems and biodiversity health (IPBES, 2019[3]). All these phenomena are altering the ecological systems that underpin economic activity and human societies, including their well-being, safety and development (Hoegh-Guldberg, Jacob and Taylor, 2018[4]). Developing countries, especially those already affected by extreme poverty, fragility, inequality and other types of vulnerability, are the most exposed to the impacts of climate change (Hallegatte et al., 2015[5]). Ultimately, this is undermining countries’ ability to achieve sustainable development.

10 November 2020