SDG 13.3.1 Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies (b) curricula (c) teacher education and (d) student assessment is provided by the Department of Education.
SDG 13.3.1 (and 4.7.1 and 12.8.1) is an indicator of characteristics of different aspects of education systems: education policies, curricula, teacher training and student assessment as reported by government officials, ideally following consultation with other government ministries, national human rights institutes, the education sector and civil society organizations. It measures what governments intend and not what is implemented in practice in schools and classrooms. For each of the four components of the indicator (policies, curricula, teacher education and student assessment), a number of criteria are measured, which are then combined to give a single score between zero and one for each component. Metadata for SDG 13.3.1 (and SDG 4.7.1 and SDG 12.8.1) is on the UN SDG website.
Information collected with the questionnaire for monitoring the implementation by UNESCO member states of the 1974 Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms will be used for the construction of the global indicator. Only information for primary and secondary education will be used for calculation of indicator SDG 13.3.1.
At a national level, information relating to SDG 13.3.1 is outlined in the Second National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development: ESD to 2030, co-sponsored by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS), the Department of Education (DoE) and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY). ESD to 2030 is aligned with UNESCO’s Framework for ESD for 2030 setting out five key priority areas for action.
By 2030, it is envisaged that we will see the following outcomes:
a) Advancing policy: ESD is embedded in education and other relevant policies and frameworks as part of a lifelong learning approach.
b) Transforming learning environments: Learners have opportunities to acquire the knowledge, skills, values and dispositions needed to promote sustainable development and to experience sustainable development in action through a whole of institution approach to ESD.
c) Building capacities of educators: Educators have the opportunities to develop capacities to foster societal transformation for a sustainable future, with ESD integrated into the offerings of education and training providers.
d) Empowering and mobilising young people: Young people are supported to be agents of change for sustainable development.
e) Accelerating local level actions: Enhanced collaboration exists between education providers, local authorities, local communities, civil society organisations and enterprise in ESD as part of lifelong learning, towards achieving sustainability at a local level.
The strategy embodies a lifelong learning approach, spanning the continuum from early learning and care to third level education and research, and extending beyond to engage with local communities, youth groups and enterprise. ESD to 2030 provides a framework to support the contribution that the education sector is making and will continue to make towards a more sustainable future at a number of levels: individual, community, local, national and international. It supports in particular implementation of the SDG National Implementation Plan, the Climate Action Plan and DFA/ Irish Aid’s Global Citizenship Education Strategy 2021-2025. The co-sponsoring departments for the strategy’s implementation phase will also work to ensure strong alignment and complementarity between ESD to 2030 and relevant education and research policies and strategies of the three departments.
The development of the strategy was informed by a public consultation process that was facilitated by the DoE and DFHERIS. It was also informed by relevant policy documents and research literature, both national and international.
Important policy documents include:
1) UNESCO’s Roadmap for ESD for 2030
3) The European Education Area Communication
4) The upcoming European Declaration on Global Education to 2050, which will be finalised in November 2022, is also an important European level policy document
5) Further information on ESD to 2030 is available on the Government of Ireland website.
SDG 13.a.1 Amounts provided and mobilized in United States dollars per year in relation to the continued existing collective mobilization goal of the $100 billion commitment through to 2025 is published by Eurostat.
The EU indicator referenced 'SDG EU Indicator 13.50’ measures the total amount spent from the annual budget of the EU member states as well as of the European Commission and the European Investment Bank, in order to contribute to the international 100bn USD commitment for climate finance under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The 21st UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Paris urged developed country parties again to ‘scale up their level of financial support, with a concrete roadmap to achieve the goal of jointly providing USD 100 billion annually by 2020 for mitigation and adaptation and to further provide appropriate technology and capacity-building support.
Ireland's contribution to the International 100bn USD Commitment on Climate Related Expending was €89.2m in 2020, up from €70.2m in 2019. See Table 5.1.
SDG 13.b.1 Number of least developed countries and small island developing States with nationally determined contributions, long-term strategies, national adaptation plans and adaptation communications, as reported to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is available on the UNFCCC website.
Eight countries in the category ‘least developed’ (LDCs) received specialised support through Ireland’s Official Development Assistance (ODA). Support of €64.15m was also provided in 2017 to the LDCs fund and other partners, according to data from the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are submitted every five years to the UNFCCC secretariat. Parties were requested to submit the next round of NDCs (new NDCs or updated NDCs) by 2025 and every five years thereafter (e.g. by 2030, 2035), regardless of their respective implementation time frames.
In accordance with article 4, paragraph 12 of the Paris Agreement, NDCs communicated by parties shall be recorded in a public registry maintained by the secretariat. The NDC Registry link to Ireland’s NDC is the update of the nationally determined contribution of the European Union and its member states, as follows:
The EU and its member states wish to communicate the following NDC. The EU and its member states, acting jointly, are committed to a binding target of a net domestic reduction of at least 55% in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990. This NDC and accompanying information contained in the Annex replaces the 6 March 2015 submission of the EU and its member states contained in the UNFCCC interim NDC registry and will, as of the date of the receipt of this submission by the secretariat, be considered to be the current NDC maintained by the EU and its member states under Article 4 of the Paris Agreement.
The UN SDG repository has the SDG 13.b.1 metadata document with the following information:
SDG Target 13.b: Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing States (SIDS), including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalised communities.
Nationally Determined Contributions
The Paris Agreement requires each party to prepare, communicate and maintain successive NDCs including mitigation, adaptation and support measures. The Paris Agreement (Article 4, paragraph 2) requires each party to prepare, communicate and maintain successive NDCs that it intends to achieve. Parties shall pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving the objectives of such contributions. Starting in 2023 and then every five years, governments will take stock of the implementation of the Agreement to assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of the Agreement and its long-term goals. The outcome of the global stocktake (GST) will inform the preparation of subsequent NDCs, in order to allow for increased ambition and climate action to achieve the purpose of the Paris Agreement and its long-term goals.
National Adaptation Plan
The national adaptation plan (NAP) process was established under the Cancun Adaptation Framework (CAF). It enables parties to formulate and implement NAPs as a means of identifying medium and long term adaptation needs and developing and implementing strategies and programmes to address those needs. It is a continuous, progressive and iterative process which follows a country-driven, gender-sensitive, participatory and fully transparent approach supported by technical guidelines and up to USD 3 million per developing country through the Green Climate Fund Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme, intended to support the formulation of NAPs.
Long Term Strategies
Under the Paris Agreement, all parties should further strive to formulate and communicate long term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies to provide a context and integrated long term view to their NDCs.
In accordance with Article 4, paragraph 19, of the Paris Agreement, all parties should strive to formulate and communicate long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies, mindful of Article 2 taking into account their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances.
The COP, by its decision 1/CP 21, paragraph 35, invited parties to communicate, by 2020, to the secretariat mid-century, long term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies in accordance with Article 4, paragraph 19, of the Agreement.
Adaptation Communications
Under the Paris Agreement’s Article 7, paragraphs 10 and 11, each party should, as appropriate, submit and update periodically an adaptation communication, which may include its priorities, implementation and support needs, plans and actions. The purpose of the adaptation communication is to strengthen the visibility and profile of adaptation, balance with mitigation, actions, support, learning and understanding. Parties may include information on, for example, their circumstances, institutions, vulnerabilities, adaptation priorities, plans, needs, progress achieved, cobenefits, other frameworks, gender aspects, and indigenous knowledge. The adaptation communications will be recorded in a public registry maintained by the secretariat, and they will provide input to the process of Global Stocktake every five years.
National Communications
The Convention established several processes to foster transparency and accountability of countries’ actions to address climate change. Under Article 12, all parties are asked to submit national inventories and national communications (NCs) to report on the implementation of the Convention. This reporting is required at different levels of stringency and with varying frequency for different parties.
In 2020, Ireland provided €88.3 million in international climate finance. This figure represents financing provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC), the Department of Finance (DFIN) and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
The vast majority of Ireland’s climate finance in 2020 was grant-based and ODA eligible. Total climate finance as a proportion of ODA was 10.18%.
2020 also saw the continued prioritisation of adaptation to climate change in developing countries. Initiatives focussed purely on this purpose received 45% of total financing while activities targeting both adaptation and mitigation co-benefits (‘cross-cutting funding’) received approximately 53% of total funding. This brings Ireland’s total share of finance for adaptation, including cross cutting activities, to 98% of total climate finance. The remaining 2% contributed to activities focussed solely on mitigation.
Funding is delivered through four main channels:
The majority of Ireland’s bilateral climate financing (approximately 92%) was channelled to LDCs, while over 85% of climate related support through Irish CSOs went to LDCs in Africa, Asia and the Americas.
Ireland’s climate programmes at mission and DFA HQ level cover areas such as climate-smart agriculture and food systems, land management, early warning systems and weather information, climate risk insurance, the sustainable blue economy and fisheries.
Climate finance figures for 2021 are not yet available but the announcements made at COP26 on climate finance indicated Ireland’s on-going commitment to deliver support to climate vulnerable developing countries.
The Taoiseach announced that Ireland will more than double its international climate financing, reaching at least €225 million per year by 2025. A climate finance roadmap is currently being developed to set out the pathway towards meeting the 2025 target and beyond, building on Ireland’s existing and growing strengths as a climate finance and development cooperation partner.
In addition, Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs announced a funding package of €2.1m to address the impacts of climate change on small island developing states and coastal communities.
Minister for DECC pledged €10 million in funding to the Adaptation Fund, which is to be provided over two years (2021-2022). Ireland also pledged €5 million to the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage (€4 million from DECC and €1 million from DFA) which aims to enhance action and support to vulnerable developing countries that face losses and damages as a result of climate change impacts.
Minister of State for Overseas Development Aid and the Diaspora, Mr Colm Brophy, announced a funding package of €3.5 million aimed at assisting least developed countries adapt to the effects and impacts of climate change in a 08 November 2021 press release. The funding package announced is made up of two elements:
The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Global Network was created in 2014 to support developing countries in advancing their NAP processes and help accelerate adaptation efforts around the world.
Ireland joined the Network at COP26, along with announcing funding of €1m for the Network.
The LDCF is the only international fund completely dedicated to supporting LDCs and with a primary focus on adaptation to climate change impacts. LDCF funding helps recipient countries to reduce climate change vulnerability in priority sectors and ecosystems. Ireland has provided over €11 million in funding to the LDCF between 2014 and 2021.
The OECD published the OECD Development Co‑operation Peer Reviews: Ireland 2020 report on Ireland's aid.
Ireland bilateral aid is well focused. Concentrating on its priority countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Ireland stands out for allocating a high share of its aid to least developed countries (nearly meeting the commitment of 0.15% of GNI) and to fragile states and contexts. In 2018, Ireland's bilateral ODA to Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 77% of the total, while the Middle-East and Asia accounted for 10% and 7%, respectively. See Table 5.2.
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