Human activity can have a detrimental effect on forests and other parts of the environment, and Goal 15 pledges to reduce or reverse these consequences to provide a more viable ecological platform for sustainable development.

Goal 7 recognizes that extending access to electricity and other forms of energy is fundamental to improving people’s lives and communities. It aims for efficiencies in energy use and the promotion of renewable sources to sustainably manage resources for development.

This chapter provides an update on the mitigation challenge associated with the global temperature goal of the Paris Agreement, and the estimated global emission levels under various assumptions regarding the implementation of current policies and NDCs or INDCs (hereafter referred to as NDCs, unless specifically mentioned in relation to a country that has not ratified the Paris Agreement).

Antibiotic pharmaceuticals are used around the world to treat and prevent bacterial infections in humans, animals and even plants. They have also been used widely as growth promoters to increase meat production, although this practice was banned in the European Union in 2006. While the misuse of antibiotics in medical and agricultural practices has been linked to increasing resistance, the role of the natural environment in the emergence and spread of resistance has received relatively little attention.