The EU Covenant of Mayors and the Compact of Mayors have officially come together, forming the largest global coalition of cities and towns committed to fighting climate change. The new 'Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy' will combine efforts and leadership to accelerate climate action at the local level worldwide. The global initiative counts more than 7,100 cities from 119 countries, representing more than 600 million inhabitants. The vast majority of signatories are European cities and towns who committed to going beyond EU climate targets via the Covenant of Mayors.

"This merger is an important step in demonstrating that local governments are taking action to fight climate change and cope with its effects,” said Gino Van Begin, Secretary General of ICLEI. “By joining this new, larger coalition, cities and towns will demonstrate the significant collective impact of their work and set an example for transparent reporting.” Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said: "[Addressing climate change] has to be done together. It cannot be done individually and it certainly cannot be done if we are in positions that are mutually exclusive to each other. Today we celebrate cities coming together under one roof."

ICLEI endorses this recent merger, which links two coalitions that ICLEI has actively supported. ICLEI has provided technical support and tools that enable cities and towns to achieve their commitments and recruited local governments to accelerate their climate actions through the two initiatives. ICLEI’s position as a city network closely involved in the running of the Covenant of Mayors and as a founding partner of the Compact of Mayors makes the organisation ideally situated to support the Global Covenant. ICLEI, in cooperation with other networks and partners, will continue its work in supporting local governments in their ambitious efforts to achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and to accelerate low-carbon development at the local level.

For more information on the merger, please visit ICLEI WS.