An update from C40’s City Diplomacy team.
25 cities commit to working with the G20 in response to major global challenges
Cities will contribute more to the G20 process this year than ever before thanks to a new Urban 20 (U20) initiative that promotes dialogue and cooperation between 25 global cities and G20 nations. In a joint statement published in April, the mayors of leading cities from G20 nations ask G20 leaders to work jointly on key global development issues including climate action, the future of work and social integration and inclusion. On climate specifically, mayors call on G20 leaders to achieve common goals, which include emissions neutrality by 2050 and enhancing resilience in line with the objectives of the Paris Agreement. At the time of writing 25 major cities from various G20 countries have joined U20 and 21 have endorsed the Joint Statement. Read the full press release here.
U20 was launched in December 2017 as a joint initiative of Buenos Aires and Paris, convened by C40 in collaboration with United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). The objective of U20 is to support cities to develop a collective message on issues of global interest and engage in a dialogue with the leaders of the G20 to explore joint solutions, advocate for empowering policies and encourage more ambitious action at national and international level.
The inaugural U20 Mayoral Summit will take place in Buenos Aires on October 29-30, ahead of the G20 Heads of State Summit hosted by Argentina.
Representatives of the U20. Photo credit: Joséphine Brueder
C40's Talanoa Dialogue story: How cities are leading the way
As part of the Talanoa Dialogue, C40 and its partners have submitted their contributions to the three key questions requested by the COP23: Where are we? Where do we want to go? How do we get there? The Talanoa Dialogue, a name and model of inclusive and transparent engagement proposed by the Fijian COP23 Presidency, borrows from traditional story telling practices from the Pacific Islands and has been adopted as the way to deliver the Facilitative Dialogue required by the Paris Agreement. The Talanoa Dialogue will serve as the first global stocktaking exercise. It will take place throughout 2018 and conclude at COP24.
You can read C40's contribution to the Talanoa Dialogue and explore more on ICLEI's Talanoa Dialogue Cities & Regions or the official Talanoa Dialogue Platform.
CitiesIPCC: The science we need for the cities we want
From March 5-7 in Edmonton, Canada, C40 delivered the first-of-its kind 'Cities and Climate Change Science Conference', in partnership with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and nine global urban and scientific organisations. Over the course of 3 days, an overwhelming 50 parallel sessions, 8 plenaries and 10 press events took place, giving the opportunity for over 700 scientists, urban practitioners and policy makers to discuss the scientific evidence available on climate change in cities, the scale of emissions reductions necessary and the potential for cities to innovate and truly make a difference for global climate change at the local level, and establish the global research agenda on cities and climate change for the next ten years.
The joint statement “The science we need for the cities we want”, presented on the last day of the Conference, invites stakeholders to promote and implement the global research agenda on cities and climate change, stimulate research and the production of knowledge, encourage science-based and evidence-based climate action in cities and the creation and strengthening of partnerships.
The CitiesIPCC Conference marks the beginning of a new era of collaboration between the scientific and urban communities. As local leaders and scientists have been among the strongest advocates for climate action for many years, their collaboration is inevitable and necessary. The innovative and forward-thinking leadership of cities around the world, supported by the enlightening and robust evidence of scientists is bound to give rise to radically transformative actions and drive the change we need to see in the world.