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Poverty and environmental degradation are urgent global challenges. In September 2015 world leaders have a unique opportunity to end extreme poverty and protect the planet, as they agree new global 'Sustainable Development Goals', to be achieved by 2030.
The UK has taken an important role in the international process of agreeing new goals, with the Prime Minister co-chairing a panel of experts in 2012. However, the Government has recently been seeking to reduce the currently proposed 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which risks losing the current international focus on environmental sustainability alongside poverty reduction and economic and social development. In order to reach global agreement on ambitious action next year it is important that the UK respects the status of the 17 proposed Goals when the European Union agrees its negotiating position at the European Council meeting on 18th-19th December 2014.
Achieving the global goals for 2030 will require ambitious action for the UK and other developed countries as well as for developing countries. The UK Government should:
· rapidly phase out subsidies to carbon intensive energy sources;
· demand the highest standards of environmental protection in trade deals, and unequivocally ensure that there is no potential for these to be undermined through trade dispute settlement mechanisms, such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP);
· lead international efforts to improve air quality in cities;
· accelerate its work on resource efficiency and find opportunities to fund circular economy approaches through UK aid spending;
· ensure that at all economic development related aid programmes fully safeguard biodiversity and tread a new path which de-couples economic growth from natural resource use;
· report annually on the impact of the International Climate Fund;
· support the establishment of Marine Protected Areas in the UK overseas territories; and
· engage young people in the UK with the new goals, and support activities that raise awareness about sustainable development.
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