Embracing the “Action Agenda” at COP 21 — why cities play an important role in global climate negotiations
At COP 21, who is lobbying for cities and what is their message? Furthermore, in national-level, global climate negotiations why do we care about the voice of cities? In order to understand these questions, we will briefly review important reasons why cities take a stand in the global negotiations. Following BINGO (business and industry non-governmental organizations) and ENGO (environmental non governmental organizations), the local government and municipal authorities (LGMA) constituency was the third to be formally recognized at COP 1.[1] The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) is the main actor in the LGMA Constituency, serving as a convener for UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) accredited observers at COP and for an expanded list of local actors under the Local Government Climate Roadmap (click here for the full list of LGMA members).
Initiatives, such as The Compact of Mayors, the World Mayor’s Council on Climate Change, or the U.S. — China Climate Leaders Summit, indicate city-level action related to global climate negotiations. Commitments across these groups and others, illustrate the need for city-level coalitions to support, “enhanced actions to mitigate carbon emissions, increase climate resilience, share experience, and strengthen bilateral cooperation.”[2] Global coalitions are not new to COP this year, in 1993 ICLEI established the Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) program which helps cities set targets and offers tools to support continued monitoring (now called the Five Milestones Framework). CCP was one of the first programs to illustrate the importance of multilevel governance for climate change, emphasizing the role of subnational governance in global environmental policy.[3] Global coalitions of cities are further supported by other agencies and programs, such as the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) which explicitly focuses on urban issues, with climate change as one theme and critical to many others. The long-standing and continued presence of such coalitions highlights why we should care about what cities are doing and build off past municipal experiences.
The UNFCCC and French planning team for COP 21 have supported the “action agenda” or “Lima-Paris Action Agenda” as one of four pillars for this year’s meeting.[4] This agenda highlights and encourages commitments and initiatives spearheaded by subnational authorities (governors, mayors) and businesses. By the end of COP 21 this “action agenda” may highlight key areas of focus for mitigation and adaptation. The debates surrounding loss and damages, allocation of funds, and technology transfer are linked to the possibilities of this agenda — who gets what funds and how much, what technology is available and to whom, where will future adaptation be critical, and how can cities across the globe start planning for those changes, now. With potential game-changing investment and R&D opportunities, such as the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, action outside of current INDC’s may give additional investment and renewed hope to those who need it.
The current national commitments miss the 2°C goal with estimates showing an increase in global temperature ranging from 2.7°C to 3.5°C (see: Climate Interactive’s Climate Scoreboard and Climate Action Tracker for current estimates), but local action can change the discussion from international stalemates to “pragmatic, concrete, positive action here and now.”[5] The C40, another popular and impactful global coalition of cities, recently developed a infographic (available here) entitled: “Why Cities? Ending Climate Change Begins in the City.” Yet more than taking a stance on city-level action over national-level negotiations, to me, the graphics indicate a reciprocal relationship: global climate negotiations are essential to combat the effects of climate change but cities are critical stakeholders in the negotiations and essential to the solution. Over the course of COP 21, Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, and Michael R. Bloomberg, past Mayor of New York City, are set to, “ensure that city voices are heard at COP21, and that their efforts are reflected in the negotiations.”[6] The discussion of cities and global climate change will culminate at COP with a Climate Summit for Local Leaders on December 4, 2015.
To follow the action (and keep the conversation going!) related to cities and the LMGA constituency during COP 21, here are a few suggestions:
@CompactofMayors
@c40cities
@MikeBloomberg
@ICLEI
@ICLEI_USA
#CDPCities
#TAPpotential
#Cities4Climate
[1] UNFCCC, “Non-Governmental Organization Constituencies,” 2010, https://unfccc.int/files/parties_and_observers/ngo/application/pdf/ngo_constituencies_2010_english.pdf.
[2] “U.S. — China Climate Leaders’ Declaration” (Los Angeles, California, 2015), https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/us_china_climate_leaders_declaration_9_14_15_730pm_final.pdf.
[3] Michele M. Betsill and Harriet Bulkeley, “Cities and the Multilevel Governance of Global Climate Change,” Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations 12, no. 2 (April 1, 2006): 141–59, doi:10.5555/ggov.2006.12.2.141.
[4] The NAZCA platform helps connect cities, regions, companies, investors, and civil service organizations to support the momentum of the “action agenda.” More, here: Andrew Steer, “Setting the Mood for a Strong Global Climate Agreement,” World Resources Institute Blog, November 25, 2015, http://www.wri.org/blog/2015/11/setting-mood-strong-global-climate-agreement.
[5] Brendan Guy, “Galvanizing a Climate ‘Action Agenda’ toward COP21 in Paris,” Blog, Switchboard from NRDC, (May 28, 2015), http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/bguy/action_agenda_groundswell.html.
[6] http://www.bloomberg.org/press/releases/mayor-anne-hidalgo-and-special-envoy-michael-r-bloomberg-announce-global-climate-summit-for-local-leaders/
