LGMA Working Groups
The LGMA Constituency’s Working Groups bring together experts and representatives from member networks to develop coordinated thematic positions, prepare submissions to the UNFCCC, and support the Constituency’s year-round engagement in international climate processes.
Established by the LGMA Steering Committee and operating under agreed Terms of Reference, the Working Groups are designed to ensure that the Constituency arrives at every major climate moment with evidence-based, collectively owned advocacy that reflects the full breadth of subnational government experience worldwide.
Adaptation Working Group
The Adaptation Working Group develops the LGMA’s collective position on climate adaptation, with a focus on ensuring local and subnational governments are recognized and resourced as frontline actors in adaptation planning and implementation. The group follows and contributes to UNFCCC negotiations on the Global Goal on Adaptation, prepares thematic submissions, and identifies subnational representatives to engage in relevant negotiation tracks. It draws on the practical experience of subnational governments, municipal networks, and technical experts to translate global adaptation frameworks into credible advocacy that reflects the realities faced by cities and regions around the world.
Climate Finance Working Group
The Climate Finance Working Group advances the LGMA Constituency’s advocacy on localising climate finance and positioning local and regional governments as strategic partners in the design, governance and delivery of climate finance systems. It focuses on overcoming structural access barriers and promoting predictable, programmatic territorial finance that connects global commitments to local investment needs. The Working Group supports systemic solutions, including country platforms for localising finance, subnational development banks, financial structuring hubs, innovative financial instruments, off-balance-sheet and risk-sharing mechanisms. Its work feeds into UNFCCC finance negotiations and related international processes, while contributing to the reform of the international financial architecture to ensure that climate finance reaches territories and communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis.
Communications Working Group
The Communications Working Group supports the LGMA Constituency in developing and delivering coordinated, strategic communications across its member networks. Its mandate spans internal alignment, ensuring members share consistent messaging and can amplify each other’s outputs, and external visibility, including at key moments such as the Bonn Climate Talks and COP. The group works to translate complex negotiation developments into accessible communications for diverse audiences, supports the development of the LGMA’s annual communications cycle, and helps build a shared identity and voice for the Constituency that reflects the full breadth of its membership. It operates in close coordination with the LGMA Focal Point organization, which manages the bulletin, website, and COP communications infrastructure.
Culture
The Culture Working Group advances the LGMA’s recognition that effective climate action must acknowledge culture and heritage as essential enabling conditions, rooted in the cultural contexts and knowledge systems of local communities. Drawing on the Constituency’s commitment to holistic climate approaches, the group explores how cultural heritage, indigenous knowledge, and community identity intersect with climate adaptation, mitigation, non-economic loss and damage, and rights-based just transition processes. It advocates for the inclusion of cultural rights and considerations in multilevel climate planning and commitments, as well as working to ensure that local and subnational governments are supported in developing climate strategies that reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.
Gender Equity
The Gender Equity Working Group works to ensure that gender equity and sensitivity are meaningfully integrated into the LGMA’s advocacy positions and into climate policy at all levels of government. The group recognizes that climate change has differentiated impacts across genders, and that local and subnational governments play a critical role in delivering inclusive, feminist-centered climate action that leaves no one behind. It contributes to relevant UNFCCC processes, supports the development of intersectionality and gender-responsive language in LGMA positions, and promotes the sharing of good practices among member networks on advancing gender equity in climate planning and implementation.
IPCC Collaboration
The IPCC Collaboration Working Group prepares the LGMA Constituency to engage strategically with the findings and policy implications of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, expected in 2027. The group monitors the development of the report, identifies key messages relevant to local and subnational governments, and supports the Constituency in using the report’s findings to strengthen its advocacy in UNFCCC processes and beyond. It also works to ensure that the perspectives and evidence base of local and subnational governments are reflected in the report’s uptake by national governments and international bodies.
Just Transition Working Group
The Just Transition Working Group engages with the UNFCCC’s Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP) on behalf of the LGMA Constituency, advocating for a whole-of-government approach and the inclusion of local and subnational governments in just transition planning, policy, and finance. The group has been developing thematic inputs to JTWP and the LGMA Advocacy Position on the Just Transition Mechanism, contributing to LGMA interventions in relevant UNFCCC dialogues. The group also works to ensure that the Constituency’s voice is present in a process that has significant implications for communities and workers on the frontlines of industrial transition, energy transformation, climate impacts and economic change. It brings together expertise from cities, regions, and civil society networks with direct experience in urban and territorial just transition implementation.
Loss & Damage Working Group
The Loss & Damage Working Group advocates for the meaningful inclusion of local and subnational governments in loss and damage mechanisms, financing, and governance under the UNFCCC. Cities and regions are often the first to assess and respond to climate-related losses on the ground, yet their role in the global loss and damage architecture remains limited. The group develops the LGMA’s positions on loss and damage, contributes to relevant UNFCCC processes, and pushes for direct access to loss and damage funds by subnational governments, particularly in Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States.
Multilevel Governance
The Multilevel Governance Working Group is at the heart of the LGMA’s core advocacy mandate: securing a formal, structured role for local and subnational governments in global climate governance. The group develops the Constituency’s positions on multilevel governance and urbanization within the UNFCCC process, contributes to relevant negotiation tracks, and advocates for mechanisms that enable genuine coordination between national and subnational governments in the design and implementation of climate policy. It builds on years of LGMA engagement — from the Talanoa Dialogues to the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP) — and works to translate political momentum into durable institutional frameworks ahead of COP31 and beyond.
Urban and Territorial Planning and Management
The Urban and Territorial Planning and Management Working Group addresses the central role of planning systems in delivering climate action at the local level. Effective urban and territorial planning connects global climate goals with the realities of communities, infrastructure, land use, and ecosystems on the ground. The group advocates for the recognition of planning as a core climate implementation tool, supports the integration of climate considerations into national urban policies and NDCs, and promotes models and best practices from local and subnational governments that demonstrate how integrated territorial approaches can accelerate both mitigation and adaptation outcomes.
Youth
The Youth Working Group ensures that intergenerational equity is embedded in the LGMA’s advocacy and that the voices of young people are reflected in the Constituency’s positions on climate action. Recognizing that the decisions made in international climate negotiations today will shape the world inherited by future generations, the group works to strengthen meaningful youth participation in LGMA processes and in relevant UNFCCC spaces. It also supports local and subnational governments in developing climate strategies that address the specific needs, rights, and contributions of young people, in line with the Constituency’s commitment to leaving no one behind.
Zero Waste and Food
The Zero Waste and Food Working Group addresses two of the most significant yet underrecognized drivers of climate impact at the local level: waste management and food systems. Local and subnational governments are key actors in both areas, with direct responsibility for waste infrastructure, procurement, land use, and community engagement. The group develops the LGMA’s advocacy on circular economy approaches, sustainable consumption, and food system transformation, and works to ensure these themes are reflected in UNFCCC processes and in the Constituency’s broader positions on integrated climate action. It draws on the LGMA’s longstanding commitment to holistic approaches that connect climate, nature, and sustainable development goals.
