As the World Urban Forum (WUF11) concludes in ICLEI Member Katowice (Poland), cities and regions remain firm in their work to advocate for elevating global climate action towards upcoming 27th Conference of Parties (COP27), to be held in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt) in November 2022.

At WUF11, in its capacity as the focal point of UNFCCC Local Governments and Municipal Authorities Constituency (LGMA) on behalf of the Global Task Force of Local and Regional Governments, ICLEI announced:

• Sharon Dijksma, Mayor of ICLEI Member Utrecht (the Netherlands) as the Special Envoy for COP27 Ministerials;
• Muhammed Sefiani, Mayor of ICLEI Member Chefchaouen (Morocco) as the Special Envoy for Africa for COP27;
• the convening of the Multilevel Action Pavilion as the central space of the LGMA Constituency at the COP27 Blue Zone for UNFCCC negotiations;
• support to the incoming COP27 Presidency to develop a COP27 Sustainable Cities Initiative to be developed in collaboration with UN-Habitat and facilitated by ICLEI; and the
• kicking-off the localisation of the global stocktake of the Paris Agreement under the motto #Stocktake4ClimateEmergency.

COP27 has been announced as the “Implementation COP”, which is poised to ensure full delivery of the Paris Agreement in its second phase, which kicked-off with the adoption of the Glasgow Climate Pact at COP26. The LGMA Constituency announced #MultilevelActionDelivers as its motto towards COP27, building on acknowledgement in the Glasgow Pact of the urgent need for multilevel and cooperative action.

In the lead-up to this week’s WUF11 event, the UN-Habitat Executive Board mandated that its Executive Director collaborate with the COP27 Incoming Presidency to convene a ministerial meeting on housing, urban development and sustainable cities and climate change at COP27. In sum, this can be recognised as the first-ever Climate and Urbanisation Ministerial in the history of the UNFCCC process.

“If cities, communities and their governments are at the frontline of tackling the climate emergency, it is inevitable that they must be the key partners of national governments and the United Nations in delivering the Paris Agreement and the Glasgow Climate Pact,” said Mayor Dijksma, speaking at the WUF11 climate panel on 30 June. “As a Mayor and former Minister, I realise that cities are recognised in the global processes but not effectively engaged – i.e. outcome negotiations, direct funding – in the national climate commitments and actions yet. Effective collaboration among all levels of governments is the only way we can face the challenges of climate emergency, reach to 1.5°C, and transform our cities and communities. I am excited to hear that COP27 negotiations in Sharm El Sheikh are opening new opportunities of dialogue and collaboration among climate and urbanisation ministers, and initiatives for sustainable cities. If COPs are only about policy, but not reaching to citizens, they are doomed to fail, and that is why we need sustainable cities, urbanisation and multilevel action, and partnership as a game-changer. As the Special Envoy for COP27 Ministerials, I am ready to mobilise my experience and network to facilitate this unique process.”

In its capacity as the LGMA Focal Point, ICLEI will lead the design and programming of the Multilevel Action Pavilion as the home for cities, regions and all subnationals at the COP27, in the Blue Zone where UNFCCC negotiations are held. Building on experience at COP26, this process will once again benefit from the support and leadership of the Scottish Government.

Over the next months, ICLEI will also actively support the COP27 Presidency and UN-Habitat in consultations to develop an initiative on sustainable cities, expected to be one of the legacies of COP27. The first consultations in this process were held at WUF11 on 29 June 2022, gathering more than 50 representatives of mayors, networks of local and regional governments, UN agencies and other stakeholders. These discussions will be further advanced at a workshop in Cairo (Egypt) on 26-27 July, to be hosted by the Incoming COP27 Presidency.

All these efforts will be further connected to the Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement towards COP28 in Dubai in November 2023. ICLEI played a key role in convincing the UNFCCC negotiators – during the UN Bonn Climate Conference held in Bonn (Germany) on 6-16 June 2022 – to expand this process to all cities and nations globally. ICLEI and LGMA suggested that this Global Stocktake process resemble the spirit and experience of the Talanoa Dialogues in 2018, supported by more than 60 Cities and Regions in 40 countries.

With respect to localising the Global Stocktake towards COP28, ICLEI proposes to promote #Stocktake4ClimateEmergency, in which the sessions to be hosted by cities and regions can focus on national climate plans (i.e. NDCs), local and regional climate commitments and actions for 2030 and 2050, as well as climate justice within jurisdictions and within the scope of global solidarity.

WUF11 in Katowice also coincided with major announcements from the Commonwealth and G7 World Leaders’ Summit, which acknowledged sustainable cities, urbanisation and multilevel action. This has provided huge momentum for the advocacy of cities and regions towards COP27.

As Yunus Arikan, Director of Global Advocacy at ICLEI and the Focal Point of LGMA Constituency, explains: “In 2018, Katowice was the host of COP24, which played a crucial role towards the Glasgow Climate Pact in 2021. With the additional momentum from WUF11, Katowice will be injecting [new energy] towards COP27 for the effective engagement of local and regional governments in the 2nd phase of the Paris Agreement to transform the global climate action into emergency mode by seising the power of sustainable cities, urbanisation and multilevel action.”