The Global Cities Hub participated in the 7th session (8-12 December 2025) of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) “Advancing sustainable solutions for a resilient planet”. Throughout UNEA, the GCH consistently highlighted the critical role of local and regional governments (LRGs) in addressing environmental challenges and accelerating climate action.
At the UNEA-7 Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) Day, the Global Cities Hub took the floor during the High-Level Ministerial Dialogues on behalf of the Local Authorities Major Group to bring forward an idea which has already emerged before: the need, as for SDGs, for MEAs localization!
UNEA-7 opened today. Mayor Ali Nazar from Addu City brought the voice of all local and regional authorities to all Member States – reporting back from the Cities and Regions Summit. He formulated clearly the Summit’s main takeaway: empowering cities and regions is the key to turning global environmental commitments into reality.
Speakers at the “Co-governing the Citiverse” webinar provided a virtual tour of multilateral processes and their main outcomes in the realm of smart cities, virtual worlds and AI, and the citiverse. They helped the audience discover how technological developments are transforming how cities are designed, governed, and experienced.
For its 2025 annual retreat, the Global Cities Hub convened cities, regions and IOs to reflect on a topic with growing relevance: the role of cities and regions as emerging donors to international organizations (IOs).
Kamelia Kemileva, GCH co-director, spoke at the GENeva UNEA Briefing ahead of UNEA-7. The GCH highlighted three key points: LRGs at the heart of environmental governance; the 4th Summit of Cities and Regions and the #BeatTheHeat official UNEA-7 side event.
Cigarette filters are a substantial source of plastic pollution that harms nature and biodiversity in general, but that affects cities severely due to higher population density. The Global Cities Hub encourages cities and region to connect discussions on tobacco control to their work and advocacy on plastic pollution.
On 10 November 2025 the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) opens in Belém (Brazil). To be successful, States must include local and regional governments (LRGs) in the global efforts to implement the pledges of the Paris Agreement, by formally recognizing and harnessing the vital role they play in driving more ambitious and inclusive climate action.
The Global Cities Hub (GCH) has reaffirmed its commitment to connecting international policy frameworks with local action on urban and peri-urban forestry, a vital component of resilient urban infrastructure. Through initiatives such as the Miyawaki Forest site visit and its participation in the 83rd UNECE COFFI session, the GCH continues to advocate for stronger coordination between States, cities, and regions to advance greener, healthier, and more sustainable urban environments for future generations.
This dynamic session on “Citiverse Rising: Virtual Worlds and AI Agents for Urban Transformation”, within the Smart Cities World Expo Congress 2025 brought together outstanding partners and visionaries. They discussed one of the most pressing challenges of our time: how cities can navigate an era of too many projects, fierce competition for innovation, and rising costs while keeping people at the heart of every technological advance.
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