The technical negotiations in the first week of COP27 concluded on Saturday 12 November with extremely limited consensus in a wide array of topics, due to deepening lack of ambition and trust among UNFCCC Parties.
This means, starting from today, the Egyptian COP27 Presidency and Climate/Environment Ministers of the UNFCCC Parties will start to play more decisive role to ensure COP27 concludes with effective outcomes.
At the same time, we have also seen positive progress in three major areas:
Loss and damage officially became an agenda of COP27
UNFCCC Executive Secretary called all stakeholders to elevate the positive momentum of the Technical Dialogues under Global Stocktake to a political dialogue at all levels before and at COP28
There are concrete efforts to connect sustainable urbanization as one of the non-market approaches under Art6.8 of the Paris Agreement.
Director of ICLEI Advocacy Yunus Arikan, in his LGMA focal point capacity, presenting Mr. Simon Stiell, the new UNFCCC Executive Secretary suggestions to advance multilevel action at and beyond COP27.
Read the IISD/ENB coverage of 12 November's negotiations.
How Cities and Regions engaged at COP27
Integrating Food Systems into Climate Resilience Policy
For the first time at COP, food has been a central priority. This panel presented how nature and green spaces can keep citizens healthy, reduce urban heat island and improve water infiltration; how to track and repurpose food waste; build public engagement and participative planning; and actively develop food strategies aligned with national and regional processes.
Circular agriculture for climate emergency Opening a wide-ranging sessions showcasing climate leadership from Türkiye, Mayor of Izmir, Tunç Soyer says culture is “like the mortar that binds a building together” for cities, asking that four “harmonies''—with nature, each other, the past, and change — be embedded into local and national plans. Calls from financial experts in Türkiye ask that the economic benefits of health be included in food programs, address the water-food nexus, and increase access to advanced data analytics.
At COP27, is the world ready to prioritise people over cars?
As COP27 negotiations to address the climate crisis are underway, global emissions continue to rise. Almost all of us breathe unsafe, toxic air. A solution to help tackle these interconnected crises is increased investment in expanded, electrified and improved public transport.
Updates from the LGMA partners
Towards a structural inclusion of Cities and Regions in UNFCCC COP27
The CoR recalls that local and regional authorities are responsible for providing their communities with essential services and immediate responses and relief to the consequences of climate change...and reiterates the need for the formal inclusion of Regionally and Locally Determined Contributions to complement the NDCs.
Addressing Loss and Damage conference – practical action: summary report
In October 2022, before COP27, Scotland hosted a conference to identify best practices and explore innovative new opportunities to mobilize financing for Loss and Damages. This summary identifies the ten key takeaways.
Achieving Energy Security, Independence and Sustainability with Renewables focused Local Action
Climate and energy are inextricably linked. As many countries make the choice to resort to fossil fuels to stave off crises, we are also seeing the suffering brought about by the impacts of climate change.
Participation of Women and Youth in Party Delegations will ensure #MultilevelActionDelivers
Jointly co-hosted by the Future Leaders Network and the Women’s Environment and Development Organization, with support from the Scottish Government, this event explores challenges and opportunities of attempting to improve diversity in decision making.
Catalyzing Finance for Strengthened Water Resilience in African Cities
Water will be the defining resource in our urban future as it will determine how and where we live, our economic successes and failures, and our growth. This session will deep dive into building water resilience in African cities, what this means and how we collectively catalyze action.
The LGMA Multilevel Action Pavilion, the home for local and regional governments in the UNFCCC COP27 Blue Zone, is hosting over 70 sessions of rich programming and meaningful dialogues showcasing that #MultilevelActionDelivers with support from over 40 organizations.
