Global Civil Society & the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

Climate Action


Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting national economies and affecting lives, costing people, communities and countries dearly today and even more tomorrow. Weather patterns are changing, sea levels are rising, weather events are becoming more extreme and greenhouse gas emissions are now at their highest levels in history. Without action, the world’s average surface temperature is likely to surpass 3 degrees centigrade this century. The poorest and most vulnerable people are being affected the most.

Affordable, scalable solutions are now available to enable countries to leapfrog to cleaner, more resilient economies. The pace of change is quickening as more people are turning to renewable energy and a range of other measures that will reduce emissions and increase adaptation efforts. Climate change, however, is a global challenge that does not respect national borders. It is an issue that requires solutions that need to be coordinated at the international level to help developing countries move toward a low-carbon economy.

To strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, countries adopted the Paris Agreement at the COP21 in Paris, which went into force in November of 2016. In the agreement, all countries agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees centigrade. As of April 2018, 175 parties had ratified the Paris Agreement and 10 developing countries had submitted their first iteration of their national adaptation plans for responding to climate change.

Name Acronym Founded City HQ Country/Territory HQ Type I Type II

CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation

2000 Helsinki Finland G

CNCD Opération 11 11 11

1966 Brussels Belgium G

Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment

CCRI 2019 E y

Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure

CDRI 2019 New Delhi India J y

Coalition for Rainforest Nations

CfRN 2005 New York NY USA F g

Coalition of Agricultural Workers International

CAWI 2005 Penang Malaysia C y

Coalition of Fragile Ecosystems

COFE 2017 J

Coastal Oceans Research and Development - Indian Ocean

CORDIO East Africa Mombasa Kenya E

Collaborative Intergovernmental Scientific Research Institute

CISRI 2000 Novara Italy E gj

Collège européen de sécurité et de défense

CESD 2005 Brussels Belgium E

Colombo Plan Staff College

CPSC 1973 Pasig City Philippines F g

Comisión Permanente del Pacifico Sur

CPPS 1952 Guayaquil Ecuador D g

Comité Européen de Droit Rural

CEDR 1957 Paris France D

Comité européen de normalisation

CEN 1961 Brussels Belgium D y

Comité permanent inter-Etats de lutte contre la sécheresse dans le Sahel

CILSS 1973 Ouagadougou Burkina Faso D g

Comité Regional de Recursos Hidraulicos del Istmo Centroamericano

CRRH 1966 San José Costa Rica E g

Commission du Danube

CD 1948 Budapest Hungary E g

Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in South-West Asia

SWAC 1964 Rome Italy E g

Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region

CRC 1965 Cairo Egypt E g

Commission for Environmental Cooperation

CEC 1994 Montréal QC Canada E g

Committee of the Trade in Cereals, Oilseeds, Pulses, Olive Oil, Oils and Fats, Animal Feed and Agrosupply of the EU

COCERAL 1958 Brussels Belgium E yt

Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

COPUOS 1959 Vienna Austria E g

Common Ground Research Networks

1984 Champaign IL USA J

Common Seas

Totnes UK G

Commons Network

Berlin Germany J

Commonwealth Forestry Association

CFA 1921 Craven Arms UK C

Commonwealth Heritage Forum

2020 London UK G

Commonwealth Law Ministers' Meeting

CLMM 1965 London UK S cg

Commonwealth Secretariat

1965 London UK C g

Commonwealth Youth Climate Initiative

2009 London UK E

Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities Network

CDAC Network 2009 London UK F y

Community and Family Services International

CFSI 1981 G

Community Forests International

CFI 2006 Sackville NB Canada G

Community Media Forum Europe

CMFE 2004 Brussels Belgium F y

Community of Sahel-Saharan States

CEN-SAD 1998 D g

Community Plant Variety Office

CPVO 1995 Angers France E g

Community-COST Concertation Agreement on a Concerted Action Project in the Field of Physico-chemical Behaviour of Atmospheric Pollutants

1980 T g

Complementary Protocol to the Agreement on Regional Cooperation in Combating Pollution of the Southeast Pacific by Oil and other Harmful Substances in Cases of Emergency

1983 T g

Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia

CAADRIA 1996 Hong Kong Hong Kong D

Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants

CEWEP 2002 Düsseldorf Germany D

Confederation of Fire Protection Associations

CFPA Europe 1974 Hvidovre Denmark D

Confederation of Laboratories for Artificial Intelligence Research in Europe

CLAIRE 2018 The Hague Netherlands D

Confederation of the European Bicycle Industry

CONEBI 2014 Brussels Belgium D t

Conference of Commonwealth Meteorologists

Exeter UK C c

Conference of Directors of the Ibero American Meteorological and Hydrological Services

2003 Madrid Spain F

Conference of Directors of the West African National Meteorological and Hydrological Services

AFRIMET Madrid Spain E

Conference of European Churches

CEC 1964 Brussels Belgium F y

Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations

CONGO 1948 Geneva Switzerland E y

Conflict Prevention Centre, Vienna

CPC 1990 Vienna Austria K g

Connect4Climate

2009 Washington DC USA E

Pages