2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference

The COP30 Presidency has declared Belém the “implementation COP,” a moment when ambition must turn into delivery. For the LGMA Constituency, this framing confirms what we have always known: Implementation happens locally.

We welcome the Brazilian Presidency’s call for a mutirão, a society-wide mobilization to achieve climate goals. From the Paris Agreement to the Glasgow Climate Pact and the COP28 UAE Consensus, the international climate regime has progressively recognized the essential role of local and other subnational governments. Now, COP30 must deliver on this recognition by institutionalizing engagement and empowering local authorities to lead implementation.

Through our vision for COP30 and beyond, we are pushing for a new phase of climate governance, one where multilevel action is no longer voluntary or symbolic, but an operational core of the UNFCCC process. We call on Parties to submit NDCs 3.0 that include meaningful subnational contributions; to ensure that adaptation, finance, and loss-and-damage mechanisms are accessible at the local level; and to establish permanent channels for cities and regions to shape and deliver the Paris Agreement.

The LGMA’s engagement at COP30 builds on a year of continuous global mobilization, strategic advocacy, and multilevel coordination. Throughout 2025, LGMA partners convened in working meetings, climate forums, and UN events across all regions. It has amplified subnational voices in key moments like the Africa Climate Summit, Climate Week NYC, and the UN General Assembly. Regular LGMA Working Group meetings, hosted throughout the year, provided coordination across partners and regions, while ensuring timely input to UN processes such as the Mitigation Work Programme, Global Goal on Adaptation, and the design of the 4th Urban and Climate Ministerial.

Among many touchpoints, three key milestones helped shape the road to Belém. The Town Hall COPs initiative activated hundreds of local dialogues across continents, creating community-driven inputs to national climate plans and the upcoming NDCs 3.0. At the mid-year climate negotiation SB62 in Bonn, the LGMA ensured that the principles of multilevel action were reflected in the Global Stocktake follow-up and that tools like CHAMP (Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships) were recognized as actionable pathways for national-subnational collaboration. Finally, Daring Cities 2025 served as a global Town Hall COP and strategic moment for alignment, highlighting local climate leadership and reinforcing the readiness of cities and regions to implement bold climate solutions under the COP30 Action Agenda.

COP30 is not the end of a journey, but the beginning of a new phase. The LGMA Constituency will use this moment to push for a permanent mechanism within the UNFCCC to recognize, engage, and empower local and subnational governments. In a time of fragmented geopolitics and climate urgency, multilevel action is a governance imperative.

From the Amazon to Africa, from Bonn to Belém, the LGMA is building a future where climate ambition is matched by delivery – through the hands of those closest to the people and the planet.