The Bonn-Fiji Commitment of Local and Regional Leaders to Deliver the Paris Agreement At All Levels

We, the Local and Regional Leaders meeting at COP23, acknowledge that, with the entry into force of the Paris Agreement in 2016, a new era in global climate action has started, building on the engagement of Parties with all levels of governments worldwide and domestically.

From the Climate Summit of Local and Regional Leaders 2017 in Bonn, Germany, we want to send a strong signal for climate action and are pleased to state our:

Commitments, ambitions and actions

We will raise our climate action ambition and

  1. Implement the Paris Agreement goals in our jurisdictions. As of today, 1,019 local and regional governments from 86 countries, representing 804 million people, have reported their emissions reduction targets on the carbonn Climate Registry, which, once achieved, would result in a reduction of 5.6 gigatons of CO2 equivalent (GtCO2e) by 2020 and 26.8 GtCO2e by 2050, compared to levels going as far back as 1990. The aggregate impact of the 7,494 cities and local governments, representing over 680 million people, committed to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy could collectively reduce 1.3 GtCO2e per year from business as usual in 2030, achieving a cumulative total of 15.64 GtCO2e between the years 2010 and 2030. Additionally, over 100 states and regions disclosed to CDP, in partnership with The Climate Group in 2017. Together, these governments could reduce GHG emissions by 21.9 GtCO2e cumulatively (1.2 GtCO2e annually) by 2050, compared to the IEA Reference Technology Scenario.
  2. Affirm our resolve to enhance the resilience of our communities. We underscore the need to assess the direct and indirect impacts of climate change, reduce disaster risks and implement adaptation planning and measures.
  3. Commit to cooperate with many more local and regional governments globally. In doing so, we will accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement at all levels of government and strengthen the momentum of our global initiatives like the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy and the Under2 Coalition.
  4. Commit to work with Parties and identify concrete opportunities for greater climate ambition. Where applicable, we will establish our own Locally and Regionally Determined Contributions to help national governments achieve and exceed existing Nationally Determined Contributions; we will support enhanced mechanisms for transparent reporting by the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) Constituency; we will communicate opportunities for greater ambition to the 2018 Facilitative Dialogue, when nations first take stock of global progress.

    We will commit to holistic and transboundary sustainability action and

  5. Implement the Paris Agreement goals in coherence with all elements of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular the Sustainable Development Goals, the New Urban Agenda, the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Finance. We aim to do so through a circular, inclusive and shared economy that acts in harmony with nature, and by solidifying the implementation of these global agendas through enhanced policy planning and coordination mechanisms.
  6. Encourage governments at all levels to mainstream the Paris Agreement goals into policies within their jurisdiction. Doing so will ensure greater policy coherence, align priorities, minimize contradictory or disconnected processes and maximize synergies between the strategies and plans developed in different policy fields.
  7. Join forces with all stakeholders in our communities and territories, leaving no one behind. Together we will accelerate innovative and transformative solutions, inspired by the outcomes of the 2017 Agadir Climate Chance Summit and OECD Seoul Forum, among other platforms that elevate multi-stakeholder engagement on climate action.
  8. Prioritize and expand our support and partnerships across borders and continents, including North-South, North-South-South, city-to-city, region-to-region linkages. We particularly aim to build connections with all levels of government in Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries and Africa.
  9. Initiate, support and use project preparation facilities, subnational financial hubs of expertise that support the development of bankable projects and pipelines for local infrastructure projects. We aim to enhance access to climate finance from public and private sources, and from various levels, that help bring forward our best climate and sustainability proposals.
  10. Enhance the active engagement of the LGMA Constituency in official global climate bodies and Parties. This includes engagement in the work of the UNFCCC Secretariat, the COP Presidencies and their High Level Champions, as well as the relevant UNFCCC negotiation bodies. We will leverage our collaboration with the Parties through a revamped ‘Friends of Cities’ at the UNFCCC, all in light of an inclusive and renewed United Nations.

Our calls to the Parties of the UNFCCC and the Nations of the UN

In relation to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), we

  1. Urge Parties to conclude the Paris Agreement Implementation Guideline by 2018 and thus reassure the global community that climate action is advancing, evolving and accelerating.
  2. Encourage Parties to seize the opportunity of the ‘Urban World’ by collaborating with all levels of government and by positioning integrated, sustainable urban and territorial development as an important tool to accelerate the implementation of the NDCs.
  3. Invite all friendly Parties to demonstrate leadership by strengthening the urban, regional and territorial dimensions of their NDCs. UN-Habitat reports that, as of November 2017, 68% of NDCs have some vision of urban context. We invite Parties to make use of vertical and horizontal integration to connect climate action at and across all levels of government, and to set up inclusive consultations processes domestically with their local and regional governments towards and at the 2018 Facilitative Dialogue.
  4. Urge Parties to work with all levels of governments and follow the guidance of the latest scientific findings, including the outcomes of Cities IPCC Conference in March 2018. Doing so will raise the ambition of current NDCs and can incorporate contributions from local and regional governments brought forth by initiatives such as the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy and the Under2 Coalition, as appropriate, and present progress to the UNFCCC by 2020 at the latest.

    In relation to an inclusive and ambitious global climate architecture, we

  5. Call on the global finance community to prioritize capacity building, technology transfer, project preparation, decentralized cooperation and strategic plans and investments for integrated, sustainable urban and territorial development as important pathways for low-emission, high-resilient development. This involves greater mobilization of a wide variety of sources, instruments and channels, including from private finance, in line with the Marrakech Roadmap for Action on Localizing Climate Finance.
  6. Call on Parties to increase the funding to the UNFCCC finance mechanisms and for innovative, climate friendly solutions and infrastructure. We call on Parties to acknowledge the innovative modalities that local and regional government have adopted to access financing and to strengthen the role of dedicated financing intermediaries for local investment, such as Municipal Development Funds, particularly in climate vulnerable communities.
  7. Call upon Parties to recognize the increasing frequency and intensity of climate related hazards and therefore accelerate financing of risk reduction, resilience and adaptation plans that are customized with the priorities of the related communities and respective governments. In particular, we note the importance of protecting oceans and enhancing coastal resilience.
  8. Commend the COP Presidencies, their High Level Champions and the UNFCCC Secretariat on the progress achieved through the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action to increase cooperation between nations, local and regional governments and other non-Party stakeholders.
  9. Call upon Parties to engage in the UN reform process and leverage the role of local and regional governments and other non-Party stakeholders in the implementation of the global sustainability agendas and within the overall UN development system.
  10. Invite all friendly Parties and interested partners to collaborate with our constituency in the implementation of these calls, as well as during other global milestones towards 2020. These milestones include the 3rd UN Environment Assembly, the Global Climate Action Summit 2018, the 2019 UN Climate Summit, the High Level Political Forums under ECOSOC and the UN General Assembly, as well as in the agendas of G7, G20 and One-Belt-One-Road processes.

Our concrete and joint initiatives

We, the local and regional leaders meeting at COP23, have organized ourselves in networks and partnerships to implement and/or strengthen the following initiatives as our further contributions to the implementation of the Paris Agreement:

City Climate Planner – GBCI, WRI, ICLEI

The City Climate Planner program raises the global talent base of city climate planning professionals through training and professional certifications that form the building blocks of local climate planning and policy development.

Climate Reporting Partnership – ICLEI carbonn Climate Registry, CDP

This new partnership brings together CDP and the carbonn Climate Registry, two of the leading climate reporting platforms in the world, in an effort to build a robust database of self-reported climate commitments, actions and performance tracking by public and private actors.

Coalition for Urban Transitions, including the new Global Urban Leadership Council

The Urban Leadership Council is a group of representatives from city networks, urban think tanks and the private sector aiming to build high-level political commitment to sustainable urban development in rapidly urbanizing countries and provide guidance to the Coalition for Urban Transitions, an initiative overseen by C40, the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities and the New Climate Economy.

Collaboration for multilevel climate governance – NDC Partnership, ICLEI

ICLEI and the NDC Partnership are now working together to design, implement and align climate action strategies across all levels of governments.

CONNECT – PLATFORMA

CONNECT is an innovative methodology that was launched in 2017. It fast-tracks matchmaking between municipal and regional expertise needed in EU partner countries with the existing expertise in Europe’s towns and regions. CONNECT carefully crafts and monitors outcomes of peer-to-peer exchanges and skills-based matches that focus on municipalities’ key challenges such as climate action.

Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa: Launch of the Political Commitment Document and the recruitment campaign of Sub-Saharan Cities – CEMR

The Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa (CoM SSA), a regional body of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, is, through its Political Commitment Document, opening the door for more Sub-Saharan cities to commit to the CoM SSA. Participation strengthens city capacity to expand access to sustainable and efficient energy services.

From Action to Transaction: The Africa Subnational Climate Fund – R20

The African Subnational Climate Fund bridges the gap between high infrastructure demands and the low number of bankable projects reaching investors. The fund provides ready-to-invest projects and financing to support the implementation of at least 100 infrastructure projects by 2020.

Front-Line Cities and Islands – ICLEI, GLISPA

Front-Line Cities and Islands is a coalition of coastal cities and islands on the front lines of the impact of climate change, working to build resilience coastal city-to-island partnerships, and designed to increase exposure to innovative resilience strategies and creative financing mechanisms.

Green People’s Energy for Africa – BMZ

Green People’s Energy for Africa will improve access to reliable, climate-friendly energy and productive use through community-driven, decentralized renewable energy projects. Thereby it will accelerate the transformation and decarbonization of the African energy sector, empowering rural communities and local actors to participate in the energy system and supporting the development of effective national framework conditions.

Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy

The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy formally brings together the Covenant of Mayors and the Compact of Mayors to form the largest global coalition of over 7,400 cities from six continents and 121 countries advancing city-level transitions to low emission & climate resilient economies through voluntary action.

Mobilization of the African civil society at territorial level in the fight against climate change – Climate Chance

This initiative aims to mobilize African cities and regions to respond to climate changerelated challenges across the continent, by encouraging their commitments to collective action and through an exchange of good practices to advance implementation of the Paris Agreement.

One Planet City Challenge – WWF, ICLEI

By combining a friendly biannual competition, capacity building, technical support and public promotion, the One Planet City Challenge provides a way for cities to engage in long term reporting of their climate performance.

Partnership for Climate Protection – Federation of Canadian Municipalities, ICLEI Canada

This network of 340 Canadian municipalities combines political commitments to act on climate change with capacity building support.  New initiatives resulting from PCP include ICLEI Canada’s Building Adaptive & Resilient Communities (BARC) program, and FCM’s Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program (MCIP), which includes the Transition 2050 network and the Climate and Asset Management Network (CANM).

Planners for Climate Action – UN-Habitat

Planners for Climate Action helps ensure urban and regional planners can play a strong role in advancing global climate and sustainability goals. To this end, this initiative will improve urban and regional planning practice and planning education.

RegionsAdapt – nrg4sd

RegionsAdapt is the first global initiative for regional governments to take concrete action, cooperate and report efforts on climate adaptation, focusing on key priority areas such as water resource management, disaster risk reduction, agriculture and biodiversity.

SDG Indicators for Municipalities – DST

SDG Indicators for Municipalities hones the Sustainable Development Goals to craft indicators for the municipal level in Germany, to ensure local governments align and track progress towards global targets.

SuRe Standard – Global Infrastructure Basel (GIB Foundation)

The SuRe Standard is designed to strengthen sustainable and resilient infrastructure development by guiding project owners in accounting for social, environment and governance criteria, while enabling them to communicate benefits to potential investors.

Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) – BMZ

Through TUMI, 11 acclaimed institutions offer technical and financial support for cities’ efforts in emerging and developing countries to implement sustainable mobility projects and programs, thereby aiming to advance global climate action and provide better and more equitable transport access to urban inhabitants.

West African Economic & Monetary Union (WAEMU) Regional Partnership for Localizing Finance – FMDV

This initiative focuses on West Africa and advocates for fiscal decentralization and innovative financing strategies and mechanisms, while building the case for public and private investments by preparing a pipeline of sustainable local infrastructure projects and matching them with funding sources.

Urban Transitions Alliance – ICLEI, RVR

The Urban Transitions Alliance is a group of industrial and former industrial cities making a shift to become global leaders in sustainable urban development by defining shared challenges, co-creating locally relevant solutions and developing transition action plans.

as contributions to the current international discussions of UNFCCC COP23 and the global climate community.

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