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.
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.
