SDG 13: An Opportunity to Strengthen Engagement, Innovation and Action on Climate Change in Canada

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SDG 13: An Opportunity to Strengthen Engagement, Innovation and Action on Climate Change in Canada

This module lasts approximately 5 hours.

Climate change has risen to the top of the social and, in many jurisdicitons, the political agenda in recent years. Following the passage and rapid entry into foce of the Paris Agreement, and the intensly sobering conclusions provided by the the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in it’s 1.5°C report stressing that failure to halt global temperature rise could result in increased cases of extreme heat, biodiversity loss, and destruction of coal reefs globally, calls for enhanced climate action shifted in urgency and resolve. This ground-swelling of pressure for more ambitious action is epitomized in many ways by the spread global climate strikes and youth marches calls for enhanced climate action shifted in urgency and resolve. This ground swelling of pressure for more ambitious action is epitomized in many ways by the spread global climate strikes and youth marches.

This course focuses Sustainable Development Goal 13 (SDG 13 Climate), which commits to take “urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”, emphasizing the globally agreed upon need to mitigate anthropocentric greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the damages caused by climate change, while acknowledging that the “United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate change.” Specifically the course highlights potential contributions of law and policy instruments in delivering targets 13.1-13.3, as is reflective of Canada’s national and international commitments and role as a leader in climate change action.

The course provides a cursory survey of principal national and international law, policy and governance measures that have the potential to contribute to realizing SDG 13. It considers options for legal and policy preparedness, notes potential for mainstreaming and more integrated implementation at the international and national levels, and offers some recommendations to deal with these issues.

The course includes an accompanying PowerPoint and covers:

  • Introduction offers brief background to the issues, the structure of the course, and an overview of the intended audience.
  • Legal Innovations & Practices from Across Canada to Achieve SDG 13 provides an initial survey of federal, provincial, and territorial approaches which support achievement of specific targets under the SDG.
  • International Legal Dimensions of SDG 13 highlighting legal obligations under international instruments related to biodiversity.
  • Legal Preparedness for Achieving SDG 13 with Canadians summarizes findings and provides mechanisms for enhancing efforts across all levels of government.
  • Recommended Resources provides a brief list of resources which could supplement information provided.

The analysis suggests that the SDG 13 targets are supported by international environmental governance systems and legal measures, including multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), as well as Canadian domestic instruments and institutions which provide pre-existing pathways to support national implementation. While law and governance mechanisms which support achievement of the SDG 13 have been identified, there remain significant areas of opportunity to promote greater policy cohesion, refinement, scaling up of ambition, and engagement with civil society actors.

Primary Instructors

Prof. Dr. Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger

Professor Dr Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, DPhil (Oxon) MEM (Yale) BCL and LLB (McGill), BA Hons, Full Professor of Law, University of Waterloo, Fellow at C-EENRG and LCIL, University of Cambridge, International Advisor, IC3, is a distinguished professor, scholar and expert jurist in law and governance on sustainable development.

She serves as Senior Director of the CISDL in a pro bono academic capacity, where she mentors CISDL lawyers and fellows, and guides new international legal scholarship and education. She is also a Full Professor of Law (part-time) at the University of Waterloo and Fellow of the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Canada; and Fellow and Advisor of the Centre for Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Governance (C-EENRG) and Affiliated Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (LCIL) in the University of Cambridge. Her current research focuses on law and governance regimes related to climate change; natural resources and biodiversity management; investment, trade and the green economy; among other emerging sustainable development challenges. She received the 2016 international Justitia Regnorum Fundamentum Award for her leadership on behalf of future generations, among other international awards and honours.

Professor Cordonier Segger has edited/authored 20 books and 120+ papers in five languages, edits the Cambridge University Press Implementing Treaties on Sustainable Development Series, and serves on the Editorial Boards of 6 law journals. As an expert jurist, she is active in international sustainable development debates. She advises United Nations treaty negotiations and organizations, serving as Executive Secretary of the Climate Law and Governance Initiative in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Chair of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Biodiversity Law & Governance Initiative. She is Rapporteur for the International Law Association’s Committee on Sustainable Resources Management; Chair of the World Bank Law Justice and Development’s Climate Law Community of Practice; and member of various Boards of Directors and Foundations.

Mr. Freedom-Kai Phillips

Freedom-Kai Phillips, BSc honors (E. Michigan), MA (Seton Hall), LLB (Dalhousie), LLM (Ottawa), is a PhD Candidate at the University of Cambridge, Operations Director and a Legal Research Fellow with the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), a Fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), and a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law. Mr. Phillips has most recently served as Senior Research Associate with the International Law Research Program (ILRP) at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), and previously as Interim Director of the Centre for Law Technology and Society at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, and Legal Researcher for the Ramsar Convention Secretariat. His research focuses on access and benefit sharing (ABS), governance of marine and terrestrial biodiversity, ocean climate interfaces, carbon offsetting and renewable energy promotion, and legal measures to support achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Along with other CISDL contributors