The Coalition for High Ambition Multi-level Partnerships (CHAMP) was announced on 1 December at COP28. The initiative aims to establish a more ambitious and durable way to achieve the Paris Agreement goals. The pledge asks nations to commit to consulting their local and regional governments to build their national climate goals, and to resource them to implement ambitious climate projects.
62 nations have joined the pledge already, demonstrating national leaders, mayors, and governors from around the world are working together to find innovative and effective climate solutions to meet global temperature goals in response to the findings from the Global Stocktake.
CHAMP was developed in consultation with subnational leaders and stakeholders, including America Is All In, Bloomberg Philanthropies, C40 Cities, CDP, European Climate Foundation, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, ICLEI, NDC Partnership, UN Climate Change High-Level Champions, Under2 Coalition, UN-Habitat, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities and others.
In response, ICLEI Secretary General Gino Van Begin made the following statement: “CHAMP promises to be the most significant development for cities and regions in the climate fight since the 2015 Paris Agreement, complementing our achievements on multilevel action and urbanization, in particular since Glasgow Climate Pact at COP26 in 2021. Since COP21 thousands of cities and regions have declared climate emergencies, adopted ambitious targets and helped to elevate national commitments. Multilevel Action is critical for the 1.5 degree C goal, and the nations who have endorsed CHAMP recognize that. The results of the Global Stocktake have been sobering, and we must find innovative ways to energize our commitment to climate action, such as turning our Townhalls into mini-COP at least once a year, as we practiced in during local Stocktakes in 2023. We commend the COP28 Presidency and Bloomberg Philanthropies their work to elevate the leadership of cities and regions in the COP agenda and processes.”
Other ICLEI leaders weighed in on the announcement of the initiative through a statement issued by the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) Constituency.
“Every nation joining CHAMP during and after COP28 marks a milestone for multilevel collaborative climate action in the spirit of the Paris Agreement. As Mayor of Bonn, a city on the path to Climate Neutrality 2035, as ICLEI Co Chair Climate Action and Vice President of the German Association of Cities, I am pleased to enter the next phase of ambition, of national strategies and stocktakes, including and reflecting the efforts of cities and regions. And I am offering the Daring Cities Forum back to back to the June Climate Negotiations as a permanent home to our follow-up and stocktake of the collaboration to come,” said Katja Dörner, Lord Mayor of Bonn, Germany and the ICLEI Global Executive Committee Climate Action and Low Emission Development Portfolio.
“In the urban world of the twenty-first century, multilevel action is the new normal in how to respond to the climate emergency. By the time we reach to COP30 in Belem in 2025, we should be able to count only countries who have not endorsed CHAMP and its vision in their national plans,” said Yunus Arikan, Director of Global Advocacy at ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and the LGMA Focal Point to the UNFCCC.
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