Worldwide, national and subnational governments are setting targets and developing policies to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy systems that ensure energy security and climate neutrality. Implementing such a transition requires collaborating with a diverse range of stakeholders including civil society, local communities, researchers, citizens, and businesses to ensure that no one is left behind.
The costs and benefits of implementing sustainable energy systems and climate neutral policies will impact citizens, communities, and livelihoods differently. In some cases, policies are designed specifically with most vulnerable groups in mind; still, many others (inadvertently) increase existing disparities.
Multilevel governance – in other words, decision-making done via true collaboration between different ‘levels’ of government (e.g. a city, region, and nation) – is an essential tool to address inequity and foster an energy transition that is sustainable and just. This form of collaboration can bring together the resources held at national levels, with the day-to-day realities that local leaders know well. After all, cities are the level of government closest to the people. Thus, they are strategically positioned to support implementation of an inclusive, just and accelerated energy transition.
On 2 December 2023, local leaders from around the world came together at COP28 to share the actions they are taking to ensure such a transition takes place in a session titled, “Just and Sustainable Energy Transition for people and the planet: How mayors are taking action to leave no one behind towards the Paris Agreement Targets”.
ICLEI Member Malmö (Sweden) is leading the way, putting people at the heart of their sustainability policies. The Malmö Commitment, a landmark initiative, “positions local and regional governments at the center of the global response to today’s challenges, by encouraging sustainable approaches, innovation, adaptability, participation, and inclusiveness in policy making…and by embedding social equity at the core of their local sustainable development.”
Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, Mayor of Malmö, spoke about the power of municipal collaboration through this initiative, saying, “Through the Malmö Commitment, mayors and cities agree to work towards intertwining the green solutions with the social sustainability perspective. Basically, it is work that we already do with ICLEI, which has a strategic vision with a dedicated people-centred development pathway. We designed this commitment to share and showcase our experiences, but also to have measurements to show that we are making progress. We already have many adopters; we now want to engage more cities. We have an opportunity to strengthen our cases when we do it together. I invite you to join us for the Malmö Commitment.”
In Africa as well, cities are leveraging a multilevel approach. In ICLEI Member Accra (Ghana) for example, the city aligns its Climate Action Plan revisions with updates at the national level to the Government of Ghana’s National Determined Contributions (NDCs). The city’s plan emphasises the importance of integrating economic objectives and social cohesion in its renewable energy initiatives. Mayor of Accra, Elizabeth Sackey, spoke of projects such as the Smart Energy Solutions for Africa (SESA) project, coordinated by ICLEI Europe, which helps municipalities incorporate social and environmental objectives in their multilevel governance approaches to reach their climate targets.
Experiences from these cities show that local governments have immense power to implement energy transition through targeted policies, sustainable business models, and capacity building activities. By working collaboratively and sharing best practices with each other, as well as different levels of government, local governments can accelerate sustainable and just energy transitions.
This article is an abridged version of an article published for CityTalk, a blog forum by ICLEI. Find the full piece here.