That’s a wrap on COP27! Thank you for joining the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM), our mayors and partners for an amazing lineup of events focused on local climate solutions, innovation, finance, data and promoting a just transition. In the course of the two weeks, we were able to bring together a number of cities, national governments, scientists, policymakers, youth and experts, with the aim to accelerate ambitious and measurable climate and energy initiatives that lead to a low emission and climate-resilient future, and showcase what GCoM cities are doing on the front lines of urban climate action, particularly in Africa.
Throughout the 2 weeks, GCoM was able to organize and co-organize over 20 events and participated in an additional 30+ events in various Blue Zone pavilions and other COP27 zones. All of the GCoM organized/co-organized events, including the session on ‘Sheltering and Empowering Informal Communities’, the session on ‘Women Leaders and Climate Change: Empowerment, Progress & Challenges and the session on ‘Energy Transition Key Insights from GCoM Signatories’ and more, can be rewatched here.
Here are some of GCoM’s key moments during COP27:
- Launched the 2022 Global Covenant Of Mayors Impact Report: Energizing City Climate Action – the GCoM flagship report showcasing the commitments that GCoM signatories are making to reduce emissions and build resilience to future climate change, and the ambitious actions being taken across sectors.
- Launched the Multi-Level Climate Action Playbook Second Edition – a guide that lays out the options for national, regional and local authorities from policy levers to institution-building, drawing on examples from national, regional and local level of both mitigation and adaptation.
- Launched the Energy Access and Poverty Pillar of the GCoM Common Reporting Framework (CRF) – a set of indicators, guidelines, and timelines built to help its 12,500+ signatories take action towards a just energy transition.
- Launched the Summary For Urban Policymakers of the IPCC 6th Assessment Report – Volumes 1-3 – a three-volume series of scientific reports to enable local governments and business leaders to accelerate and deepen urban climate action across the world.
- Launched the Summary for Urban Policymakers of the IPCC 6th Assessment Report – Action Agenda – capturing the key findings from the SUP volumes, but goes beyond the SUP Series and the foundational IPCC reports, to include inputs from city and business leaders, gathered through a series of regional convenings.
- Announced the Urban Transitions Mission’s first city cohort – the first group of (48) cities that will receive support to test, pilot and scale up solutions and adopt system-wide approaches to reach net-zero.
- Announced the appointment of Mayor Yawo Winny Dogbatse of Kloto I, Togo to the GCoM Board – who will serve as an ambassador for urban climate action at the local, national, and global level and help encourage local leaders across Africa to adopt ambitious emissions reduction goal.
- Launched the City Research and Innovation Agenda Bridge – a comprehensive linking of the City Research and Innovation Agenda (CRIA), the Global Research and Action Agenda (GRAA), and the Needs-Based Climate Innovation Framework (NCF).
- Reaffirmed the commitment to Innovate4Cities Conference and 1st Annual Innovation Summit in 2023.
- Was part of the launch of COP27 Presidency Sustainable Urban Resilience for the next Generation (SURGe) – aimed to accelerate local and urban climate action by promoting multilevel climate governance, multi-stakeholder engagement and delivery through five Tracks: Buildings and Housing, Urban Energy, Urban Waste and Consumption, Urban Mobility and Urban Water.
- Collaborated with the World Geospatial Industry Council on the release of the concept paper on leveraging geospatial technologies to accelerate city climate action.
- Supported the launch of the Youth Energy Impact Report – a guiding framework developed in partnership with Student Energy and the University of Melbourne, to help decision-making institutions better recognize the impact of youth-led climate action and identify pathways to supporting these initiatives.
- Collaborated on the launch of the CDP Africa Snapshot – a look at Africa’s disclosing cities examining climate action infrastructure projects, like wastewater treatment and low carbon transport, worth $8.8 billion and needing a minimum investment of $3.7 billion.
Lastly, learn more about some of our key moments covered by Politico, Urbanet, and SmartCitiesWorld.
A big thank you to everyone involved, our cities, the GCoM Board, our funders, the alliance of partners and GCoM’s Regional/National Covenants for making all of this possible and for working together to support local climate action through data-based decision-making, critical funding access and innovative solutions.
For any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us by emailing info@globalcovenantofmayors.org