No time to lose:

The EU must bring multilevel governance

home to implement COP28 outcomes

September 4, 2024

By Goksen Sahin

Senior Advocacy Expert, Strategic Communications, Membership and Advocacy, ICLEI Europe

Looking forward to the upcoming European Conference on Sustainable Cities and Towns that will take place on 1-3 November in Aalborg (Denmark), where many topics related to multilevel governance will be discussed, as well as in light of the upcoming COP29 in Azerbaijan, it is important to analyse and review the COP28 climate negotiations that happened in Dubai in 2023 from this angle. The outcomes of COP28 were unprecedented in many ways, not the least in securing agreement on the Loss and Damage Financing Mechanism on its first day and paving the way for ending the fossil fuel era. Among others, one of the most notable aspects of COP28 was the role that subnational level governments played throughout the two weeks.

The COP28 Presidency and Bloomberg Philanthropies hosted the first-ever Local Climate Action Summit, at which over 300 subnational leaders came together with their national governments to discuss how to transform climate finance, enhance global action, fast-track the energy transition, and strengthen resilience and adaptation at the local level. While a similar Summit was organised alongside COP21 in Paris, this was the first time such an event was an official part of the COP, even co-hosted by the COP28 Presidency.

IMAGE: ICLEI Europe

At the Local Climate Action Summit, the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP), currently signed by 71 countries, was launched. This was a groundbreaking moment as by signing onto CHAMP, national governments formally committed to enhancing cooperation with subnational governments, especially in regard to the revision of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) where countries have outlined how they plan to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement, which will keep global temperature increase to no more than 1.5°C by 2025.

The Local Climate Action Summit was followed by a Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change, where their joint outcome statement encouraged all parties to consider outcomes related to multilevel action in the final negotiated decisions coming out of COP28.

This incredible momentum, spearheaded by the COP28 Presidency has also made its way into the final COP28 outcome texts. While the Global Stocktake document “urges Parties and non-Party stakeholders to join efforts to accelerate delivery through inclusive, multilevel, gender-responsive and cooperative action”; the Global Goal on Adaptation outcome highlights the importance of local approaches and local knowledge in addressing the adaptation and recognises the role of cities and regions in delivering successful adaptation measures. Finally, the Loss and Damage outcome foresees direct financing to subnational governments.

IMAGE: ICLEI Europe

These are extremely important moments of recognition of the role that cities and regions play as first responders to extreme weather events and as primary drivers of sustainability agendas -that are usually by far outpacing national ambitions.

It is now time to bring these developments back home to Europe and to start thinking about what it means to implement CHAMP in the European Union (EU). Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, and Portugal have already signed the CHAMP pledge. Countries, like Germany and France, brought both national and subnational government representatives to the Urbanisation Ministerial underlining the importance they place on a multilevel governance approach. European Commission Executive Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič announced the Commission’s support for the principles of the CHAMP, based on how CHAMP aligns with the European Union’s negotiation mandate which recognised for the first time the need to include cities and regions in developing and implementing climate and energy plans.

These signals must now turn into concrete actions. EU Member States must start implementing the CHAMP pledge to deliver COP28 outcomes– there is no time to lose.

The EU has several legislations such as the Regulation on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action and the Social Climate Fund, as well as non-legislative initiatives such as the Covenant of Mayors and EU Missions directed to cities and regions to guarantee multilevel governance and investment towards the European Green Deal objectives. However, as seen from the Commission’s assessment of the National Energy Climate Plans’ preparation process, under the Regulation on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action, these multilevel governance and consultation requirements are not met systematically in all Member States.

IMAGE: Kiara Worth