Gino Van Begin, Secretary General, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As the Secretary General of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, I speak on behalf of the Constituency of Local Governments and Municipal Authorities, the LGMA Constituency to the UNFCCC. The current climate crisis calls for bold and immediate action. We must unite in recognising the urgency to accelerate actions toward a sustainable future. The challenges we face require unwavering dedication, collaborative efforts, and innovative solutions.
The first week of COP28 has marked an unprecedented recognition of the need for multi-level climate action.
∙ The Local Climate Action Summit, back-to-back to the WCAS, brought more than 500 local leaders to a multi-level dialogue with the COP28 Parties;
∙ the COP28 Presidency ‘s Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP) for climate action was successfully launched with 66 Parties endorsing the initiative; ∙ and the second Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change, underscored the importance and interest of national governments to collaborate with their other spheres of government.
We welcome the operating modalities of the new Loss and Damage Fund to allow for direct access for the subnational level. The LGMA fully supports the COP28 Presidency CHAMP Initiative, welcomes the 66 nations as endorsers, and invites other Parties to join.
We call on all Parties, to clearly and explicitly state in the GST Outcome texts the need to advance multilevel action in the new NDCs towards 2025 and thus support the Presidency’s ambition for multi-level climate action.
Our pledge is to fortify multi-level partnerships among all levels of government, foster knowledge exchange and capacity building, and leverage cutting-edge technologies.
Together, we will chart a course towards carbon neutrality, ensuring that no one is left behind in this journey.
Thank You.
