Climate Justice is Social Justice

Something is wrong when a five-digit number can accurately predict how long an American will live, how much money they have, and how likely they are to go to college. Zip codes capture this because some communities in America face a disproportionate amount of inequalities. Too often, people of color, the elderly, or indigenous people are saddled with the weight of injustice.

 

In these communities, one can also see the heart of America’s social movements. 

 

 

It’s here that issues like climate, housing, mass criminalization, good jobs, and reproductive justice intersect. The threat of sea level rise in Miami is displacing low-income residents as wealthier people retreat from ocean views to higher land. In Louisiana, Black, brown and indigenous communities are more likely to live near fossil fuel power plants, causing a host of health challenges from asthma to cancer. They’re also more likely to live in places without emergency escape plans, like communities at the end of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline who are hung out to dry when storms come.

 

Freedom to Breathe is driving across nine states over 21 days to highlight the links between climate justice and social justice.

The “Climate Finance Day in Mexico” (September 18, 2018) is an event with two primary objectives. First, it aims to facilitate a space for multi-stakeholder dialogue so that people interested in mitigation and adaptation to climate change can share their experiences on allocation, access, management, and mobilization of finance to accelerate climate action in the country. Second, it looks to identify challenges and opportunities that can then be translated into a mobilization route that allows the country to implement actions to comply with the commitments that have been established at the national and international level in the matter.

Context

At the international level, various multi-stakeholder dialogues have been held to accelerate climate action, such as the One Planet Summit convened by French President Emmanuel Macron, which seeks to promote collaboration to achieve the assurances of the Paris Agreement, of which Mexico is Signatory and member of the ratification.

Mexico is in the process of government transition, which represents an opportunity to strengthen climate action. Thus, this event aims to generate a dialogue between representatives of the current and future government, with other stakeholders also interested in the subject.

Several initiatives and actions involving the same subject are already taking place and generating different spaces for dialogue and exchange is necessary to achieve the country’s goals. In May and June, several multi-stakeholder dialogues were held to identify challenges and recommendations that various actors propose on mobilizing finance to address climate change. Such challenges and recommendations are the basis for the integration of the event’s agenda.

Thematic

         Strengthen public policies for the effective transition towards a low- carbon, climate-resilient economy;

         Strengthen the sustainability vision of the financial sector;

         Scaling up the participation of the private sector in climate actions;

         Improve transparency to ensure the effectiveness of climate finance.

         Mobilization of climate finance to achieve:

               ​  The energy transition

               ​  The sustainable mobility

               ​  The creation of sustainable cities

               ​  The conservation of nature and adaptation to climate change

Format

The second edition of the Youth Solutions Report, which identifies 50 youth-led projects that aim to solve the world’s toughest issues, will be released on July 16 in New York during a launch event at the headquarters of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

The report’s solutions, which come from 61 countries and operate across all continents and regions, deal with crucial sustainable development issues, including clean energy, education, digitalization, e-participation, access to healthcare, ecosystem restoration, sustainable agriculture, and waste.

Like its 2017 predecessor, this year’s Youth Solutions Report provides these initiatives with a powerful platform to secure funding, build capacity, communicate experiences, and scale efforts. In addition, the 2018 edition includes in-depth analysis of the multiple challenges facing youth-led innovation for the SDGs and proposes a set of concrete recommendations for all stakeholders that can help create more integrated ecosystems of support for young change makers.

"The future belongs to the young, who are increasingly providing imaginative solutions to push the Sustainable Development Goals agenda forward, helping to solve the greatest challenges our world faces. Initiatives such as SDSN Youth and its Youth Solutions Report are confirming how important youth-focused programmes are in supporting the ideas and energy coming from the next generation."

Paul Polman, Chief Executive Officer of Unilever and member of the SDSN Leadership Council

On July 16, the launch event of the Youth Solutions Report will be hosted by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and will be live-streamed online at 2:00 pm EDT at www.youthsolutions.report. The list of speakers is available on Eventbrite, where it is possible to register to attend the event in person.

"The Youth Solutions Report is a great platform to showcase the capacity of young women and men for creativity and innovation. Taken together, the brilliant solutions featured in the Report contain a call to future action, an invitation to trust youth as front-runners both in the present and in the future. We need to provide young people with tools and opportunities so that they can – and they will – come up with their own solutions to address problems that arise in their environment."

Forest Whitaker, UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation and Founder and CEO of the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative, said that young people are doers whose talent to spark positive change is yet to be fully recognized.

Siamak Sam Loni, Global Coordinator of SDSN Youth, added that while young people are already contributing to the implementation of the SDGs, they still face common challenges that prevent them from realizing the full potential, including the lack of visibility, limited access to finance, and the lack of training and technical support. “The 2018 Youth Solutions Report will help investors, donors, and supporters better understand the multi-faceted role of young people in sustainable development and give them additional opportunities to showcase and scale their work” concluded Mr. Loni.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 goals included in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was launched at UN Headquarters in September 2015 and adopted by all 193 UN member states. The SDGs, which are relevant to all countries, aim to achieve social inclusion, economic prosperity, and environmental sustainability for all people.

SDSN Youth is the youth initiative of SDSN, focused on empowering youth globally to create sustainable development solutions. SDSN Youth educates young people about the challenges of sustainable development and creates opportunities for them to use their creativity and knowledge to pioneer innovative solutions for the SDGs. SDSN Youth creates platforms for young people to connect, collaborate, and integrate their ideas and perspectives within the public policy field.

For more information on the Youth Solutions Report, visit: www.youthsolutions.report
For media enquiries and interview requests, please contact: solutions@sdsnyouth.org