Mayors of ICLEI Member cities Utrecht (the Netherlands) and Chefchaouen (Morocco) joined the 151st plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) on 12 October to send a strong message to EU leaders ahead of the next United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP27). Mayors Sharon Dijksma (Utrecht) and Mohamed Sefiani (Chefchaouen) made clear that multilevel cooperation will be crucial to a successful COP27 in Egypt this 6-18 November.

In the debate with Bas Eickhout (Greens-AFE/NL), Vice-chair of the ENVI Committee of the European Parliament, ICLEI and CoR members discussed the key role of local and regional governments in implementing national and international climate change commitments, particularly the Paris Climate Agreement and the Glasgow Climate Pact. CoR Members adopted two opinions calling for the recognition of this key role in the official EU Conclusions and negotiation mandate for COP27. Concretely, this includes the proposition of Regionally and Locally Determined Contributions (RLDCs) which compliments the National Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted to the UNFCCC by national governments.
The call comes ahead of crucial votes in the European Parliament and the EU Council on 17 and 24 October.

ICLEI, as the formal focal point of the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) Constituency at UNFCCC COPs – a constituency that the CoR is part of – has been developing a collaboration with the Egyptian Presidency to ensure multilevel action at COP27 initiatives. This has led to outputs including the Initiative on Sustainable Urban Resilience for the Next Generation (SURGe), developed in collaboration with UN-Habitat and facilitated by ICLEI. At the CoR plenary session, ICLEI representatives renewed a call for support from national and EU level through the #SURGe Initiative.

The CoR and ICLEI will continue to voice the need for cooperation among levels of government in order to ensure a fair transition. This is made clear in the LGMA priorities for COP27, which include enhanced national climate plans through multilevel action and by supporting the first-ever Climate & Urbanization Ministerial.

Find the CoR opinions on EU Conclusions on COP27 here: “Towards a structural inclusion of Cities and Regions in UNFCCC COP27” (Alison Gilliland); and “The CoR’s role in boosting subnational climate diplomacy ahead of COP27 and COP28” (Olgierd Geblewicz).

For more details about ICLEI and LGMA work and priorities for COP, click here.