UN, college open online course on SDGs, climate change

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in partnership with UN System Staff College (UNSSC) are offering an online course with a holistic and integrated approach to climate change, focusing on the inter linkages and interdependencies between sustainable development and climate change.
The Paris Agreement on Climate Change as a Development Agenda, which starts on 15 June, will teach, students how to make informed policy choices towards low-carbon and climate resilient sustainable development.
The Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius and as close as possible to 1.5 degrees C, is central to combating climate change on a global scale.
The 2030 Agenda, including the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Climate Change Agreement together constitute the most comprehensive blueprint to date for eliminating extreme poverty, reducing inequality, and protecting the planet.
There are many areas in which sustainable development and climate action are deeply interconnected and interdependent.
For example, achieving zero-hunger cannot be done without protecting food systems, which rely on a stable environment to effectively grow food.
And Sustainable Development goal number 11, pledging countries to invest in resilient cities and communities, cannot be fulfilled without addressing the growing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events caused by climate change.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently found that illnesses caused by increased air pollution from dirty fuels will cause a health crisis in years to come, and that the Paris Agreement effectively plays a dual role as a public health agreement.
Urgent climate action is clearly needed to tackle every part of the 2030 Agenda, and this course offers the tools to make this climate action a reality.
Participants will engage with existing tools and instruments to mainstream sustainable development and climate action into national development policies and planning.
The course will frame the climate change impact and action around five core cornerstones of 2030 Agenda: People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnership. Registration closes 11 June, 2018.