From the Local Leaders Forum in Rio to the defining moments for cities at COP30 in Belém, ICLEI President Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, Mayor of Malmö, Sweden, carried a consistent message across the international stage: Cities and regions are already implementing climate solutions and they are ready to scale them. Now, the global climate agenda must finally catch up with them.

“My message is not a message of fear, it’s a message of hope. Leaders like us here in Belém, we are stepping up to make the difference in the face of the climate emergency. We are here to say to the world that we are committed to create communities that will be better, that serve our people better and that protect our planet better,” said ICLEI President on 11 November at the COP30 Presidency press conference.

Led by COP30 CEO Ana Toni, this high-level press conference marked the close of COP30’s Urban days (10-11 Nov), reflecting COP30’s Presidency recognition of subnational governments as key implementers in climate action. Sharing the stage with Brazil’s Minister of Cities Jader Barbalho Filho and California Governor Gavin Newsom, Mayor Jammeh spoke about the urgency of the climate crisis and the hope found in local leadership. Climate science, she stressed, has never been clearer, nor the impacts more visible in people’s daily lives.

She pointed to Malmö’s goal of becoming climate neutral by 2030, driven by deep collaboration with communities and businesses and anchored in equity and inclusion – a concrete example of the just transition local governments are working to advance. (Watch this interview at COP30 by We Don’t Have Time, where Mayor Jammeh expands on Malmö’s climate neutrality efforts)

“We know what has to be done, we are ready to deliver, and with the strong support of our national leaders, we will do the job,” she concluded at the press conference.

Throughout COP30, Mayor Jammeh represented the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) Constituency – the official voice of local, regional, and other subnational governments in the UNFCCC process, for which ICLEI serves as focal point.

Earlier that same day Mayor Jammeh addressed the fourth Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change. Speaking on behalf of the LGMA, she called for multilevel collaboration and urbanization to be fully integrated into the UNFCCC process. At the Ministerial High-Level Closing Plenary, her intervention reaffirmed that cities and regions stand ready to work alongside national governments to implement new, ambitious climate plans. 

The Ministerial outcomes, focused on localizing NDCs, increasing finance for cities and acting on urban priorities such as heat, housing and nature, echoed the central theme Mayor Jammeh carried throughout COP30: Implementation happens locally.

This message framed her engagements at the Cities & Regions Hub – the home for multilevel action and urbanization in the Blue Zone – as well. On 12 November, at the Hub’s High-Level Opening, Mayor Jammeh joined Minister Filho and Anacláudia Rossbach, UN-Habitat Executive Director, to present the Hub as a central space for multilevel collaboration, knowledge exchange and coordinated advocacy, a physical expression of the Global Mutirão call for collective action.

Building momentum for cities at the COP30 Local Leaders Forum

The milestones in Belém were built on foundations laid earlier in Rio de Janeiro. From 3–5 November, Mayor Jammeh served as one of sixteen Co-Chairs of the COP30 Local Leaders Forum, co-hosted by the COP30 Presidency and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Over three days of high-level discussions, she worked alongside Co-Chair peers such as UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell; Laurence Tubiana, Chief Executive Officer of the European Climate Foundation; and Teresa Ribeiro, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a Clean, Just, and Competitive Transition, to sharpen a common agenda: Local and regional governments are indispensable partners in delivering the Paris Agreement.

Rio also marked an important political signal. The European Union announced its endorsement of the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP), alongside the adoption of an EU 2040 climate target. Mayor Jammeh, commended the European Commission, calling it “a strong signal that Europe is committed to a climate governance model that sees cities and regions as equal partners in shaping and delivering the transition.” Read Politico’s coverage of Mayor Jammeh’s reaction to the CHAMP endorsement here.

The Forum further celebrated the 2025 Bloomberg Philanthropies Local Leaders Awards, with eight of the twelve winners hailing from ICLEI Member cities. “These award-winning efforts demonstrate cities and regions are bringing real innovation and improving lives while reducing emissions and creating opportunities for a climate-neutral, resilient future,” said Mayor Jammeh.

On 5 November, the Local Leaders Forum concluded with the Local Climate Action Summit, marking ten years since local leaders first gathered in Paris at COP21 to demand bold climate action. Mayor Jammeh highlighted that COP30 should institutionalize a UNFCCC mechanism that fully engages subnational governments in delivering NDCs and Paris goals. Watch Mayor Jammeh at the Summit.

That unified message travelled directly into the heart of COP30. On 7 November, in Belém, during the World Leaders Forum, Mayor Jammeh joined Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Belém Mayor Igor Normando, Minister Helder Barbalho and other leaders in handing the Local Leaders Forum Joint Outcome Statement to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The Statement called on Parties to partner in implementation, unlock finance for local action, and make the COP process a true engine of implementation and accountability.

Reflecting on COP30 outcomes and what comes next

In her Statement on the COP30 outcomes, Mayor Jammeh praised the leadership of Belém, the State of Pará and Brazil for recognizing that real implementation begins in cities, states and regions.

“Local and subnational leaders arrived with credible climate action and proven solutions, and while the Belém outcomes — including the Just Transition Mechanism and stronger references to multilevel action across the package — show meaningful progress, the failure to establish a mandated dialogue with local and subnational governments leaves a critical gap at the heart of the implementation agenda,” she stated.

Looking beyond Belém, her vision is firmly set on the years ahead. She emphasized that ICLEI and its network of cities and regions stand ready to work with Parties so that, by the time the IPCC Special Report on Cities is released in 2027, local and regional leadership is fully embedded in global climate decision-making, finance and accountability.

As she rightly pointed at the COP30 Presidency press conference on 11 November: “By setting our side to achieving carbon neutrality as soon as possible, aligned with -and even faster- that our national plans, we are charting a clear course toward a better and sustainable future for our communities.”