Following COP26, the focus on financing the transition to net zero and need for a greater spotlight on sustainable urbanisation was an important opportunity to raise this at the Heads of Government level.

Development assistance and climate change

Alongside the private sector, many development partners are increasingly targeting their development assistance towards strategies to address climate change. The European Union is one of the major development partners working proactively with local government. CLGF is one of five global local government organisations with a Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA) to look at how we can bring local governments, through their associations, more strategically to the table when assistance is being planned and implemented.

CLGF paper on EU Green Deal policy

CLGF commissioned a paper which looks at the Green Deal, one of the EU’s key policy priorities in the new NDICI. The paper considers the importance of action on climate change at the local level and the core role of cities in adaptation and mitigation; it highlights some of the challenges of access to climate finance at the local level and considers international responses with a focus on the EU and some of the instruments in place. The paper includes some country/regional case studies and it concludes with key actions for local governments that want to engage more with the EU.

Authored by the CLGF Secretary-General Emeritus, Dr Carl Wright, read the paper in full.