New York Climate Week was an important moment for the climate community to come together and strengthen ourselves before we move to Belém, Brazil for COP30.
Over and over, I heard a deep commitment to the multilateral process, and particularly to the inclusion of local and other subnational governments in the climate process.
I was a proud bearer of the message that local governments are ready to step up further, and to work with their networks to be more vocal, and bring strong evidence of climate impacts and solutions.
In my city of Malmö, Sweden, we are demonstrating pioneering practices; offering new jobs and opportunities for our climate economy, divesting from fossil fuels, issuing social and green bonds and working with fair and inclusive transition.
Sweden has endorsed the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP) for Climate Action and now we have an opportunity to meaningfully include local governments in our national climate planning and implementation.
I personally will attend the Local Leaders Forum in Rio – an important gathering for our constituency – and then COP30 in Belém. Local and subnational leaders will have an important role to play to bring our messages of multilevel collaboration from New York to Rio to Belém. ICLEI is proud to co-convene the Cities & Regions Hub – the home for multilevel action and urbanization – in the Blue Zone at COP30, and connect this Hub with the outcomes from Local Leaders Forum in Rio.
As we look to COP30, I invite all national delegations and partners to support ICLEI, the LGMA Constituency and COP30 Presidency so that Belém leaves a legacy for multilevel and urban action in new climate action and governance. This Belém legacy, if created as an official UNFCCC process and guided by the IPCC Special Report on Cities in 2027, should pave the way for a collective commitment to design, build and live in climate and human friendly cities of the 21st century.
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