COP28 has been hailed a turning point for cities and regions in climate action leadership - and CLGF is at the event to give local government a voice. The world's cities, regions and other subnational governments are calling on Parties to adopt multilevel collaboration to ensure that the goal of 1.5 degrees can still be met.

Integrated approach 

The Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) Constituency, of which CLGF is a member and which voices subnational governments in the UNFCCC process, presented its position paper with more than 40 endorsing entities. The paper emphasises a strategic response to the IPCC's warning of likely exceeding a 1.5°C temperature rise by 2027. It calls for an integrated approach involving cities, regions, and local governments to limit global warming and enhance adaptation measures. The endorsers stress the urgency of translating Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) into tangible local strategies, advocating for a robust multilevel governance model to facilitate this transition

Role of local stakeholders

The LGMA Position Paper for COP28 outlines a unified stance for the summit and stresses the crucial role that local stakeholders – principally local government – has in shaping dialogue at COP28, particularly from a local and community perspective.

The multi-level and collaborative approach is also emphasised with climate change being one of the many challenges that cannot be tackled by one single country or region, or by one particular specialism or profession.

CLGF Secretary-General, Ms Lucy Slack said: “Having just returned from the CLGF Commonwealth conference in Kigali, with the theme - Building local resilience in the Commonwealth - I am pleased to represent those Commonwealth local government entities who are not able to attend. It is important to reflect the concerns that they have about taking real action to build resilience, particularly in the area of climate action, which poses one of the most certain, urgent and serious threats to our future. By our future I refer to our local communities and our way of life, as well as to the planet as a whole.

Action not words

Local government wants action, not words; it wants urgent consideration for the small island developing states, that suffer so devastatingly and disproportionately to their individual carbon footprints; financial support to mitigate, plan and prepare; and recognition that leading from the bottom up is the real way to make progress and have a meaningful impact.”  

Ms Slack will be participating and speaking in various sessions during the two week event.