Under the theme “Stronger national climate plans through multilevel action,” the sixth edition of Daring Cities aims to serve as a pivotal platform for local and regional governments to influence global climate negotiations. Explore what Daring Cities 2025 is bringing to the table.
On 19 May 2025, ICLEI South America virtually promoted the second Meeting of the National Coordination Group of the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) Constituency for COP30. The meeting brought together representatives of subnational government networks, state consortia, international organizations and partner institutions committed to building climate federalism in Brazil. Recognized as an official…
Looking ahead to COP30, what cities and regions do in advance of this global climate summit may matter more than the conference itself. On the road to Belém, local and regional governments have a unique opportunity to engage with their national governments, shift the trajectory of the climate emergency, and push for inclusive, multilevel climate action.
Multilevel governance dialogues have taken place across seven UrbanShift countries, engaging city representatives from diverse urban contexts.
At the Water for Climate Pavilion at COP29 on 19 November, the importance of locally-led initiatives and multilevel governance approaches in implementing effective water management was in the spotlight.
As the world’s attention turned to COP29, leaders from the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) Constituency, gathered on 13 November at a special session to respond to COP29 and the World Leaders Climate Action Summit (WCAS).
The Multilevel Action & Urbanization Pavilion launched at COP29 in Baku with a powerful message: Addressing the climate emergency requires seamless collaboration across all governance levels. Co-convened by UN-Habitat and ICLEI, the Pavilion serves as the global platform for city and subnational climate action, bringing together mayors, regional leaders, and national representatives to showcase both…
At the midpoint between COP28 and COP29, the Bonn Climate Talks (SB60), held in Bonn, Germany during these past two weeks, built upon last year’s outcomes from Dubai, aiming to drive progress and prepare decisions for adoption in Baku in November 2024. Running alongside the SB60 sessions on 3-5 June, Daring Cities 2024 Bonn Dialogues embodied multilevel action by positioning cities and regions at the center of global climate discussions. This fifth edition featured significant milestones, including a CHAMP endorsers roundtable, the first joint public dialogue between UN High-Level Climate Champions and fostered synergies across diverse topics, including climate-land-nature, loss and damage and urban systems.
As the SBs continue to set the stage for COP29, global city representatives shared concrete examples of multilevel governance and partnership for enhanced climate action between national and local governments.
The COP29 High-Level Climate Champion, alongside mayors, subnational leaders and other representatives, convened at the Daring Cities 2024 Bonn Dialogues to reflect on the much-needed multilevel climate action to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goals. The event highlighted the importance of vertical and horizontal collaboration on a global scale to tackle the climate emergency head-on. …
“The climate crisis is global. But the work to address it is global, national, regional and local” – Axel Schmidt Grael, Mayor of Niterói, Brazil and Chair of the ICLEI Climate Action Support Portfolio, during the CHAMP endorser roundtable on 4 June, under the umbrella of Daring Cities Bonn Dialogues 2024.
Wrapping up Daring Cities’ 2024 Cornerstone I “Reflect,” two in-depth webinars gathered local leaders and climate representatives to discuss past climate initiatives, especially those stemming from COP28. Here, we share their insights exploring how cities and regions can leverage COP28 outcomes, particularly the CHAMP initiative, as we move forward to the upcoming COPs in Baku…