從今天開始，聯合國首次把二氧化碳排放和材料足迹納入了人類發展指數(Human Development Index) 裏，讓氣候行動變成衡量國家發展進度的其中一個重要指標。

不過，國家在綠色發展進度方面表演各異，仍需加強環境保護措施。

「聯合國開發署表示，在加入新指標後，有50多個國家因為高度依賴化石燃料和材料足跡而掉出了“高發展水平”的行列，但哥斯達黎加、摩爾多瓦和巴拿馬等在環境保護方面做出突出成績的國家，排名都有30名以上的大幅提升」。材料足跡是指為滿足最終消費需求而提取的原材料總量。

最新估計更加顯示，到2100年，全球最貧困國家每年遭遇極端氣候的天數最多將增加100天。可是，若《巴黎協定》的目標（把全球平均氣溫升幅控制在工業革命前水準以上低於2℃之內 ）可以全面落實，這個數字將能減少一半。現在，70%最容易遭受氣候變化影響的國家正正是在經濟及政治層面上最脆弱的國家。

在幾天前的氣候雄心峰會視像會議上，即巴黎氣候協定的第五周年，聯合國都呼籲各國宣布進入「氣候緊急狀態」。巴西、澳洲等碳排放國家因對氣候行動的承諾不夠遠大，沒有取得發言資格。

儘管如此，這次會議亦目睹一些國家對環境保護作出新的承諾，包括巴基斯坦和以色利將逐步淘汰燃煤發電廠。

[Sustainable Development Goal 13: Climate Action]

Starting from today, the United Nations has, for the first time, integrated carbon dioxide emissions and material footprint into the Human Development Index (HDI), taking climate action as one of the important indicators in measuring national development.

However, countries have varied performances in terms of green development progress and are still in need to enhance environmental protection measures.

“The United Nations Development Program claimed that after adding in the new indicators, 50 countries have fallen out of the “high development level” due to their high dependence on fossil fuels and material footprints. However, Costa Rica, Moldova, and Panama are all involved in environmental protection.” Material footprint refers to the reserve of raw materials extracted to meet final consumption needs.

The latest estimates show in more detail that by 2100, the world’s poorest countries will experience up to 100 more days of extreme weather each year. However, if the goal of the Paris Agreement (limiting the global average temperature rise above the pre-industrial level below 2°C) can be fully realized, this number will be reduced by half. Now, 70% of the countries most vulnerable to climate change are the most vulnerable economically and politically.

At the virtual Climate Ambition Summit 2020 on the 5th anniversary of the Paris climate agreement a few days ago, the United Nations called upon all countries to declare a “state of climate emergency”. Carbon-emitting countries such as Brazil and Australia are not qualified to participate, due to their lack of commitment to climate action.

Nevertheless, this meeting also witnessed new commitments made by some countries to environmental protection, including Pakistan and Israel’s commitments to phase out coal-fired power plants.

12月11日是「EU Green Deal」的週年日，而在今年的12月11日歐盟各成員國領袖同意了歐盟委員會提出的「可持續和智能交通策略」和其82項行動目標。

「European Green Deal」是使歐盟可持續發展的長期計劃。其目的是：

到2030年，至少3千萬輛零排放汽車投入使用、100個歐洲城市實現碳中和、整個歐洲的高速鐵路運輸量增加一倍等；

到2035年，零排放飛機進入市場；

到2050年，幾乎所有車輛都將實現零排放、鐵路貨運量 增加一倍、全面運營的跨歐洲運輸網等。

「可持續和智能交通策略」則為歐盟交通系統「綠化」和「數字化」轉型奠定基礎，並通過這個智能、可持續的交通系統來實現 #EUGreenDeal

11 December marked the anniversary of the ‘EU Green Deal’. On 11 December this year, the leaders of the EU member states agreed on the European Commission’s ‘Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy’ and an Action Plan of 82 initiatives.

The ‘European Green Deal’ is a long term plan to make the European Union sustainable, which aims are:

By 2030, at least 30 million zero-emission cars will be in operation on European roads, 100 European cities will be climate neutral, high-speed rail traffic will double across Europe

By 2035, zero-emission large aircraft will be market-ready;

By 2050, nearly all vehicles will be zero-emission, rail freight traffic will double, a fully operational, multimodal Trans-European Transport Network, etc.

‘Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy’ lays the foundation for how the EU transport system can achieve its green and digital transformation. Consequently, the ‘EU Green Deal’ would be achieved through this smart, sustainable transport system.

（資料來源：https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/mobilitystrategy_en）

《 2020年歐洲可持續發展報告》在最近發佈了！你可以在這裏找到有關每個歐盟（EU）成員國表現的最新互動數據。

報告重點：

歐盟需要減少歐洲國家在該地區以外產生的不可持續供應鍊與貿易相關的影響：每年向歐盟進口的服裝、紡織品和皮革製品涉及37宗致命工傷事故和二萬一千宗非致命工傷事故。

歐盟及其夥伴國表現不佳的方面包括：

可持續發展目標12（負責任消費和生產）：不可持續的飲食、肥胖率高且不斷增加以及不可持續的農業和耕作方式。

可持續發展目標13（氣候行動），可持續發展目標14（水下生物），可持續發展目標15（陸地生物）：《循環經濟行動計劃》提議表明，預計歐盟在短期內會繼續增加使用生物質、化石燃料、金屬和礦物等材料，連同相關的用水。這份報告呼籲歐盟採取更快的行動，將重點放在關鍵產品價值鏈上，例如包裝和建築。

可持續發展目標和《歐洲綠色政綱》僅就2030年氣候和能源目標而言，就需要等於歐盟GDP 1.5％的投資。

數字化創新和️️清潔能源技術對於實現可持續發展目標至關重要。

[News related to Sustainable Development]

The Europe Sustainable Development Report 2020 has recently been published! Here, you can find the latest interactive data on how each European Union (EU) member states are performing.

Key Takeaways from the Report:

The EU needs to reduce unsustainable supply chains and trade-related spillovers generated by European countries outside the region: imports of clothing, textiles and leather products into the EU is related to 37 fatal workplace accidents and 21,000 non-fatal accidents every year.

Areas that the EU and partner countries are performing poorly include the following:

SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production): unsustainable diets, high and increasing obesity rates, and unsustainable agricultural and farming practices.

SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 14 (Life Below Water), SDG 15 (Life on Land): The proposed “circular economy action plan” shows that the use of materials such as biomass, fossil fuels, metals and minerals, along with associated water generation, are projected to continue to increase in the EU in the short term. Quicker action is called upon to focus on key product value chains, such as packaging and buildings.

The SDGs and the European Green Deal requires an investment agenda equivalent to 1.5% of EU GDP for the 2030 climate and energy targets alone.

Digital innovation and clean energy technologies are essential to achieve SDGs.

您是否曾思考過我們每日消耗的食物背後的整個系統？今天，我們想和您分享農業和糧食系統的概念。這篇由環境政策分析員Xinqing Lu寫的文章點出了這個概念背後的重點，旨在打破農業價值鏈，健康，營養和環境可持續性之間的孤島。以下為原文摘錄：

“農業和糧食系統對於管理和保護生物多樣性，應對氣候變化，實現可持續糧食系統以及可持續發展目標至關重要。如今，儘管農業用地佔據了世界上一半最具生產力的土地，仍有超過8.2億人正在捱餓。而在8.2億人口中，超過2.57億（31％）在非洲。

撒哈拉以南的非洲在全球農業食品系統中扮演著至關重要的角色。 撒哈拉以南非洲的六成以上人口是小規模農戶，其大約23％的GDP來自農業。 到2050年，非洲人口將達到20億，而農業將需要養活所有人。 與此同時，非洲仍是糧食的淨進口國，儘管非洲擁有世界60％的未耕地。 非洲的農業轉型有潛力為增加全球糧食供應和實現可持續發展目標做出重大貢獻。”

值得一提的是，在現今的糧食系統中，過度使用化學藥品、普遍實行的單作作物種植系統、陸上和海上集約化動物農場等對自然資源的破壞速度已經超過了大自然的更新速度，並造成了全部人為溫室氣體排放的四分之一，其中牲畜飼養排放約佔一半。

那麼，中國與非洲在農業與糧食系統方面的合作可以有哪些行動方向呢？Xinqing Lu建議：

1.通過提高小農和中小企業開發和採用適當農業技術的能力，提高生產力、作物和農場管理水平，將氣候智能型和可持續農業生產及投資納入非洲國家的主流。

2.推動中非軟商品價值鏈綠色合作

3.加強非洲國家政府和相關方在氣候應變政策制定、實施和跨部門協調方面的變革能力;早期預警能力;以及綠色融資的動員。

【Sustainable Development Goals 2: Zero Hunger】

Have you ever thought about the whole system behind the food we consume every day? Today, we want to share with you the concept of agriculture and food systems. This article by environmental policy analyst Xinqing Lu highlights the key points behind this concept, which aims at breaking down silos between the agriculture value chain, health, nutrition, and environmental sustainability. The following are extracts from the original text:

“Agri-food systems are essential in managing and preserving biodiversity, adapting to and tackling climate change, realizing sustainable food systems, and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Today, over 820 million people remain hungry despite agriculture taking up to 50% of the world’s most productive vegetated land. Of the 820 million people, over 257 million (31%) are in Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa plays a crucial role in the global agri-food system. More than 60 percent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is smallholder farmers, and about 23 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP comes from agriculture. Africa will have a population of 2 billion by 2050, and agriculture will be central to feeding all of those people. At the same time, Africa remains a net importer of food, although it has 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land. Agricultural transformation in Africa has the potential to contribute significantly to increasing global food supply and achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

It is worth mentioning that in the current food system, the excessive use of chemicals, the widespread monocropping system, intensive animal farms in land and sea, etc., are destroying natural resources faster than nature’s renewal rate. And it causes a quarter of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions, of which livestock emissions account for about half.

So, what can be the action points for cooperation between China and Africa in agriculture and food systems? Xinqing Lu suggests:

1.Mainstream climate-smart and sustainable agricultural production and investment in African countries, by increase capacities of smallholder farmers and SMEs to develop and adopt appropriate farm-level technologies for improved productivity, crop, and farm management.

2.Promote China-Africa cooperation in greening the Soft Commodity Value Chain (SCVC).

3.Enhance in African national governments’ and other stakeholders’ transformative capacities in climate resilience policy-making, implementation, cross-sector coordination; early warning capacity; and mobilization of green financing.

你知道科技創新可以幫助審查供應鏈上的人權和勞工權益狀況嗎？

以下是一些可以終止強迫勞動的關鍵技術：

區塊鏈技術：在供應鏈的每個階段顯示交易資料並記錄有關產品對社會和環境的影響。

人工智能（AI）和機器學習（ML）：Verité等風險分析平台使用AI和ML從公司之間共享的招聘數據中識別整個供應鏈中的實時風險。

DNA追踪：找尋產品的自然元素（例如產品上的灰塵粒），以識別產品的來源國。

這些創新科技需要更多的資金和投資，以幫助資源有限的買家和供應商建立可持續的全球供應鏈。

[Sustainable Development Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth ]

Do you know that technological innovations can help to track human and labour right situations along supply chains?

Here are some key technologies that can end forced labour:

Blockchain technology: captures transactions and records about the social and environmental impacts of the product at every stage of the supply chain.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML) : risk analysis platforms, such as Verité, use AI and ML to identify real-time risks across an entire supply chain from recruitment practice data shared amongst companies.

DNA tracing: trace the natural attributes of a product (e.g. dust particles on a product) to identify the source country’s of the product.

More finance and investments for these innovative technologies are needed to help resource-constrained buyers and suppliers to have sustainable global supply chains.