On Tuesday, April 22, the Municipality of Belém, Brazil in partnership with ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, held the event “Presentation of Preliminary Data on the City’s Climate Compliance.” The meeting brought together local authorities and representatives from international organizations and marks a significant step toward building a more sustainable and climate-resilient city, aligned with Belém’s commitments as the host of COP30 and as one of the main urban centers in the Amazon region.
“Today I want to thank ICLEI and the German Embassy for making this extraordinary gesture for Brazil, for Belém, and for the Amazon. You are contributing to the development of a climate plan that ensures our sustainability. Without a doubt, this is our greatest challenge: to make Belém once again the capital of the Amazon for visitors, for those who see us from the outside, and above all, for those who live here,” said the Mayor of Belém, Igor Normando, during the event.
Climate Compliance: Foundation for a sustainable future for Belém
ICLEI is supporting the Municipality of Belém in building the city’s Climate Compliance, a series of strategic studies that provide the foundation for the Local Climate Action Plan (PLAC, in Portuguese). The main documents included in this diagnosis are:
- Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory (GHG): Launched in 2023, this inventory outlines the city’s GHG emissions profile, identifying key sources and enabling the development of ambitious strategies to reduce emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change locally;
- Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (CRVA): Evaluates the impact of extreme events such as heavy rainfall, droughts, and floods, while identifying the most vulnerable areas. This tool is essential for helping local governments understand and address the effects of climate change;
- Ecosystem Services Diagnosis (ESD): Plays a vital role in the city, offering strategic information on the benefits nature provides and threats to those systems.
These studies were developed by ICLEI with support from the European Union (through the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy – GCoM), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) via the Global EbA Fund, and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which funds the development of the PLAC.
Belém on the road to COP30
The event hosted by the Municipality of Belém opened with a panel of authorities presenting the preliminary data on the city’s Climate Compliance. The session featured Igor Normando, Mayor of Belém; Rodrigo Corradi, Director of ICLEI Brazil and Deputy Secretary of ICLEI South America; Bettina Cadenbach, German Ambassador to Brazil; Juliana Nobre, Secretary for Environment and Climate of Belém; and André Godinho, Special Secretary for COP30, with moderation by Hugo Salomão, Senior Fellow for COP30 at ICLEI.
The technical training for municipal managers that followed included detailed presentations on the GHG, CRVA, and ESD studies, methodological guidelines for the PLAC, and group activities focused on building cross-sectoral climate mitigation and adaptation actions. The goal was to equip the city’s technical teams and managers with a thorough understanding of the documents underpinning the development of a more sustainable and resilient Belém. “This is the final stage of data validation for Belém’s first Climate Action Plan, which, together with the municipal administration, we will officially deliver next month. The training ensures that public servants and civil society organizations understand the diagnostic data and how it connects with the plan’s goals, targets, and actions,” explained Rodrigo Corradi.
Belém, the capital of the state of Pará, joined ICLEI in 2022 with a focus on developing and promoting public policies and actions for low-carbon development, climate adaptation and resilience, sustainability, urban biodiversity, and the inclusion of vulnerable populations. Since then, in addition to the Climate Compliance efforts, Belém has participated in the first ICLEI Amazon Regional Meeting, signed the Commitment Term to engage in the Forum of Pan-Amazonian Cities (FCPA), and joined the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) and the Malmö Commitment. The city has also endorsed initiatives such as the Edinburgh Declaration and the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.
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