CHAMP to focus on backing local governments for climate action

14 / 02 / 2024

By Marwa Nassar - -

The Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP) will focus on delivering more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by 2025 with increased urban content and unlocking the support and resources to subnational and local governments for action on climate mitigation and resilience.

Multilevel action – the collaboration between local and national governments – plays a key role in achieving global climate objectives. Over 70 countries and the European Union endorsed the CHAMP demonstrating support for such collaboration.

CHAMP complements the SURGe initiative launched at COP27, which provides a complementary platform to translate national commitments into localized, cross-sectoral climate action.

With approximately 70 percent of urban areas already experiencing the effects of climate change – such as the urban heat island effect, where temperatures rise up to 10 degrees warmer than surrounding rural areas – the inclusion of local leaders in key discussions at COP28 wasn’t symbolic: it was a bold step towards making cities more sustainable and resilient and contributing to the global climate goals.

At COP28, two key events spotlighted cities and local governments: the inaugural Local Climate Action Summit – the first time a COP presidency convened a formal subnational summit within the COP process – and the second Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change, which brought multilevel action and climate finance to the fore.

The outcomes of these events, focusing on the role of cities, are summarized in a Joint Outcomes Statement on Urbanization and Climate Change. The outcome of the first Global Stocktate – which shows whether countries and stakeholders are making progress towards meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement – also explicitly highlights the engagement of cities and subnational actors in that regard.

The recognition of local efforts alongside national initiatives extended to adaptation, acknowledged as a global challenge requiring action at all levels. A loss and damage fund attracting over $ 700 million in commitments was established, which will allow subnational governments to access funds directly.

“Mayors and local leaders are your first responders to crises that converge in cities.”

That was in essence the message of then UN-Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif at COP28 during her opening remarks as the co-host of the Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change.

“Climate change is the defining challenge of our time – it requires all of us to act […]. We must act together, in a coordinated way, across levels of government, across ministries, across sectors, with civil society, academia, the private sector and communities,” she said.