Cities play a crucial role in addressing climate risks

COP28 will be a pivotal moment to deliver a robust collective response to the latest climate science to reset global climate efforts. In addition to hosting the first-ever mayoral delegation to the World Climate Action Summit, the COP28 Presidency and Bloomberg Philanthropies will convene the complementary COP28 Local Climate Action Summit, uniting subnational and national leaders to establish a new paradigm for fully integrated climate action between governments at all levels across four core themes: Transforming Local Climate Finance; Integrating Local Contributions to Enhance Global Action; Fast-tracking the Local Energy Transition; Strengthening Local Resilience and Adaptation.

The Global Cities Hub (GCH) is established to bridge the gap between local and regional governments (LRGs) and multilateral processes, ushering in a new era of collaboration within the whole-of-government system on international issues. Climate change is certainly one of the primary focus areas.

Multilateralism manifests itself in various forms, from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and the Human Rights Council (HRC) to the upcoming COP28 and the influential G20/U20 meetings. Embracing the spirit towards more inclusive multilateralism, this year, the first Local Climate Action Summit takes place at the COP28 on 1-2 December 2023 in Dubai and can be followed online

The COP28 Local Climate Action Summit marks a historic occasion, designed to acknowledge the indispensable role played by local leaders in this area. With nearly 70% of the world’s population projected to reside in cities by 2050, the voices of LRGs must resonate at the policymaking table.

While the organization of this Summit is a pivotal first step, GCH will carefull follow whether its outcomes are officially incorporated into the COP28 proceedings. GCH fervently advocates for substantial LRGs involvement in shaping global policies, crafting regulations, negotiating multilateral agreements, and executing development strategies. We are committed to identifying entry points into multilateral intergovernmental processes and empowering LRGs to amplify their voices.

We applaud the COP28 Presidency for including the Local Climate Action Summit in the program and urge organizers to enshrine its outcomes in the official COP28 documentation. As the Summit assembles an impressive range of national and subnational climate leaders with the aim of revolutionizing climate finance, galvanizing global action, expediting the energy transition, and fortifying resilience and adaptation at the local level, the perspectives of local leaders take center stage.

This Summit is backed by networks of LRGs as well as subnational partner organizations including C40, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, UCLG, and others. As the mayors put it in their open letter: “Correcting course on climate change will require nothing less than full-scale coordination between local, state, and global leaders” as highlighted in the joint COP28 position to which GCH join its voice.

Distinguished leaders who have already confirmed their participation include:

• H.E. Abdulla Al Basti, Secretary-General of The Executive Council of Dubai, UAE
• Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
• Governor Kim Tae-heum of Chungnam, South Korea
• Mayor Abigail Binay, Makati, Philippines
• Mayor Eduardo Paes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Mayor Elizabeth Sackey, Accra, Ghana
• Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Freetown, Sierra Leone
• Mayor Muriel Bowser, Washington, DC, United States
• Mayor Frank Cownie, Des Moines, United States
• Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Paris, France
• Mayor Claudia Lopez, Bogotá, Colombia
• Mayor Pratibhaben Rakeshkumar Jain, Ahmedabad, India
• Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, Warsaw, Poland

See more here.

GCH is committed to pursue an active role to advocate for a better involvement of LRGs in climate-related and environmental multilateral processes in Geneva. Explore our efforts to raise awareness about the Global Plastics Treaty (INC-3) and our written submissions to the negotiations.