City and regional leaders have called for multilevel action and financing to respond to the climate emergency at COP27 which is taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

Representatives from local governments and municipal authorities (LGMA) - of which CLGF is a member - gathered to advocate and illustrate how multilevel action is critical to achieving climate goals set out in the Paris Agreement. LGMA is the recognised voice of cities and regions in the COP climate negotiation process.

Yunus Arikan, Director of Global Advocacy, ICLEI said: “LGMA calls on UNFCCC Parties to acknowledge that multilevel action delivers the Paris Agreement, building on the recognition of the multilevel and cooperative action in the Glasgow Climate Pact and the transformative power of sustainable urbanization to respond to climate emergency.”

The key asks of the parties at COP 27 include:

·       endorsement of the Sustainable Urban Resilience for the next Generation (SURGe) initiative;

·       a multilevel climate governance initiative sponsored by the COP27 Presidency and endorsed by 70+ organisations, focused on five tracks: buildings and housing, urban energy, urban waste/consumption, urban mobility, and urban water;  

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Mayor of Utrecht and LGMA Special Envoy to COP27 Sharon Dijksma commended the COP 27 Presidency for their focus on implementation at the local level through various initiatives and the first Ministerial on Urbanisation. She invited participants to support these initiatives and give multi-level action a central position during COP27 and said: “If successful, this will be the last COP where cities are not formally recognised voices on the agenda.”

Mayor Dijksma launched the Call to Action: Making multilevel action during COP27 a success at the end of the Daring Cities Forum 2022. As of 3 November 2022, the Call-To-Action was signed by more than 30 Mayors, other local and subnational leaders and non-state actors. The Call-To-Action will be open until 14 November 2022, and final list of signatories will be merged with those who signed up to the Global SURGe Alliance to be announced at the COP27 Ministerial Meeting on Urbanisation and Climate Change on 17 November 2022.

CLGF Secretary-General Ms Lucy Slack said: "This illustrates the need for cooperation and collaboration of all stakeholders. The local level is where the impact of extreme weather is most acutely felt, but to provide the best solutions, it requires people and organisations on all levels having some input."