COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber and UN Special Envoy Michael R. Bloomberg Announce Historic Global Delegation of Governors, Mayors, and Local Leaders to Turbocharge Subnational Climate Action at COP28 Local Climate Action Summit

November 22, 2023

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Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Governor of Chungnam, President of Nouakchott Region, Secretary General of The Executive Council of Dubai, and Mayors of Accra, Ahmedabad, Bogota, Des Moines, Freetown, Makati, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Warsaw, and Washington, D.C. will represent the power of local climate leadership at the COP28 World Climate Action Summit

More than 200 mayors and governors set to attend the inaugural COP28 Local Climate Action Summit co-hosted by COP28 Presidency and Bloomberg Philanthropies

New York, NY and Dubai, UAE – Today, COP28 President Dr. Sultan Al Jaber and UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, Michael R. Bloomberg, announced an unprecedented delegation of subnational leaders to join them at COP28 for the opening leader’s segment of the COP28 World Climate Action Summit. They also named a list of distinguished Local Co-Chairs for the COP28 Local Climate Action Summit (LCAS) to unite subnational and national leaders to establish a new global paradigm for fully integrated climate action among all levels of government.

“Partnerships are critical to implement real world climate action and we know these start at the local level. That is why at COP28 we are formally engaging with sub-national leaders by hosting the first ever Local Climate Action Summit,” said Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, President of COP28, “We simply cannot react effectively to the Global Stocktake, keep 1.5°C within reach, and ensure COP28 has a lasting legacy that reduces emissions everywhere without the active participation and engagement of local climate champions and business, private sector and philanthropy.”

“Local leaders play a critical role in raising global climate ambition,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions. “At COP28, for the first time, their efforts will be formally recognized in the summit’s programming, a breakthrough that will help empower them to seek more support for their ambitious agendas.”

The Local Climate Action Summit marks the first time a COP Presidency has hosted a formal summit to bring subnational leaders into the COP program and process, and more than 450 attendees from 66 countries, including over 200 mayors and governors, are set to attend. This inaugural delegation of local leaders and Co-Chairs will call on their national counterparts and international institutions for increased multilevel partnerships to accelerate and finance local climate projects for global climate progress. These efforts will feed into subsequent COP28 events and processes, notably the Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change on 6 December in partnership with UN-Habitat and the High-Level Climate Champions, co-convened by eight national governments and bringing together 30+ Ministers of Housing, Urban Development, Environment and Finance to accelerate local climate finance. The leaders announced today include:

COP28 Local Climate Action Summit Co-Chairs & World Climate Action Summit Delegates: H.E. Abdulla Al Basti, Secretary General of The Executive Council of Dubai, UAE; Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; Governor Kim Tae-heum of Chungnam, South Korea; Mayor Abigail Binay of Makati, Philippines; Mayor Eduardo Paes of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Mayor Elizabeth Sackey of Accra, Ghana.
World Climate Action Summit Mayoral Delegates: Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr of Freetown, Sierra Leone; Muriel Bowser of Washington, DC, United States; Frank Cownie of Des Moines, United States; Anne Hidalgo of Paris, France; Claudia Lopez of Bogotá, Colombia; Yuriko Koike, Tokyo, Japan; Pratibhaben Rakeshkumar Jain of Ahmedabad, India; and Rafał Trzaskowski of Warsaw, Poland.

This group of subnational leaders will join together with LCAS’ Global Co-Chairs announced in September: Xie Zhenhua, Special Envoy for Climate Change of the People’s Republic of China; John Kerry, the United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change; Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat); HE Razan Al Mubarak, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion of COP28; and Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation, France’s former Climate Change Ambassador and Special Representative for COP21, and COP22 UN High-Level Champion for Climate Action.

Taking place on 1-2 December at the start of COP28 in conjunction with the COP28 World Climate Action Summit, Local Climate Action Summit’s first day will include the COP Presidency extending a warm welcome to the inaugural global delegation of mayors and governors at the World Climate Action Summit, solidifying the significant role of subnational governments in shaping global climate discussions. Later that day, a high-level segment of the Local Climate Action Summit will take place on the World Climate Action Stage, highlighting the critical impact of subnational leaders in the climate fight, the benefits of multilevel cooperation, and solutions to local climate finance.

The second day of Local Climate Action Summit will be dedicated to a Mayors Innovation Studio, where more than 180 mayors from across the globe will receive tools to activate young people in their communities to co-design, co-produce, and co-govern urgent climate strategies and policies. Day two will also include a series of breakout sessions focusing on critical topics such as a just energy transition, financing sustainable infrastructure, health, adaptation and resilience, multilateral development bank reform and the role of nature.

The Summit will examine ways to bolster multilevel partnerships by incorporating climate actions proposed by subnational leaders in formulating and improving Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Additionally, local and global leaders will work together to facilitate increased access to enhanced sustainable financing, with a specific focus on supporting climate initiatives in the Global South. The Summit will also examine ways to fast-track the clean energy transition at the local level and explore accelerated pathways to enhance adaptation and resilience measures for cities, states, and regions.

“When it comes to climate change, cities can have a powerful global impact when we work together towards common goals,” said Muriel Bowser, Mayor of Washington, D.C. “This is a global challenge, but the solutions need to come from and be implemented at every level. We are proud that Washington, D.C. is a leader in the work to build a greener, more resilient, and more sustainable future for ourselves and for the world, and these partnerships will strengthen that impact. I look forward to representing our work and our city at the COP28 World Climate Action Summit.”

“This is a historic moment for mayors to be invited to participate in the COP28 World Climate Action Summit,” said Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris and Global Ambassador of the Global Covenant of Mayors. “As local leaders, we stand at the forefront of change, ready to drive transformation. By bringing cities and regions together with national governments, we can turn our Paris ambitions into action. I look forward to participating in the World Climate Action Summit and Local Climate Action Summit to help set our path toward a more sustainable and resilient world for all.”

“Now more than ever we look to cities for inspiration and collective action against the climate crisis,” said Claudia Lopez, Mayor of Bogotá. “But we are looking too: at national governments, intergovernmental organizations, and world leaders for action and cooperation. The Global South is a pool of untapped climate knowledge, and I am thrilled to represent Bogotá as well as Colombia generally, as the birthplace of the Sustainable Development Goals, at the World Climate Action Summit.”

“EU cities and regions consider that the UAE presidency’s initiative to host the first Local Climate Action Summit is an important step towards recognizing subnational governments’ efforts against the climate emergency and improving their access to financing”, said Rafał Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw and member of the delegation of the European Committee of the Regions at COP28. “Local and regional governments across the world are united to drive ambitious action, and this must be reflected in the final COP28 outcome.”

Media interested in attending or learning more about the COP28 Local Climate Action Summit can contact pressinfo@bloomberg.org.

About the COP28 Local Climate Action Summit:
The COP28 Local Climate Action Summit will be the first Summit hosted by the COP Presidency in recognition of the critical role local leaders play in reducing emissions, addressing climate risk, and supercharging national efforts to move further and faster on climate progress. Hosted by the COP28 Presidency and Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Summit aims to bring together national and subnational climate leaders to transform climate finance, enhance global action, fast-track the energy transition, and strengthen resilience and adaptation at the local level. This Summit is backed by world-leading networks of local leaders, including the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), US Conference of Mayors, the Under2 Coalition, UN-Habitat, the World Resources Institute (WRI), and others.

The Summit will unite subnational and national leaders to establish a new paradigm for fully integrated climate action between governments at all levels across four core themes:

Transforming Local Climate Finance: Strengthen sustainable financial mechanisms to mobilize the trillions of dollars in public and private investment needed globally at the subnational level to deliver real change.
Integrating Local Contributions to Enhance Global Action: Incorporate local implementation into national and international climate policy design and determine how best to factor subnational action into future national and global climate goals, including for 2030.
Fast-tracking the Local Energy Transition: Propel rapid advancements across pivotal sectors and surface new strategies to deliver ambitious results locally.
Strengthening Local Resilience and Adaptation: Protect residents and infrastructure from immediate and future climate risks.

For more information about the Summit, please visit www.cop28.com/LCAS.