Thank you Co-facilitators for the opportunity. I represent the LGMA constituency, the voice of local and subnational governments.
Local and other subnational governments are closest to communities and uniquely placed to ensure that national commitments are translated into locally responsive implementation. More systemic and meaningful engagement with subnational governments leads to mitigation and adaptation plans more grounded in the reality of communities and can help countries achieve their climate targets faster.
We commend the successful dialogues in the recent past that have helped highlight these linkages, such as 4th Global Dialogue on Cities: Buildings and Urban systems and the 6th Global Dialogue on waste and the circular economy. As a constituency we have been actively engaging in these dialogues and saw very fruitful exchanges between Parties and non-Party stakeholders. We welcome future dialogues and thematic focus of the Mitigation Work Program related to and building on this.
This progress is reflected in the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships, CHAMP, showing the critical role that all levels of government must play in advancing global climate ambition. With a focus particularly on clean energy and just transition, CHAMP demonstrates what multilevel action can achieve. In countries that have endorsed it, city climate commitments alone could close 37% of the gap between current NDCs and a Paris-aligned trajectory.
The LGMA constituency encourages Parties to draw on the forthcoming IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities as an important foundation for strengthening the role of urban and subnational territories in global climate action. The report will provide case studies and best practices for implementation at the local level and could serve as a source of topics for future mitigation dialogues.
With that I thank you for your attention.
