Climate action from the ground up: Supporting local and regional governments and cities
Published by UNDP Climate Promise on 12 October 2022
The world is on pace to reach 1.5-1.6 celsius of warming by 2040, and with little time remaining, countries must scale up ambition to pivot to a low-carbon future, building resilience and adaptive capacity for all citizens. In addition to national governments, every region, city and village have a key role to play in multi-level climate action.
Around the world, UNDP supports climate action across levels of government and from the national to community level, helping countries to take bold action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase resilience and adaptation to climate impacts, and advance sustainable development as a whole.
In 2019, UNDP launched the Climate Promise to help ensure any country wishing to increase the ambition of their NDC was able to do so. UNDP supported 120 countries, representing 80 percent of developing countries globally, including 40 Least Developed Countries, 28 Small Island Developing States, and 47 in fragile contexts, to enhance their climate pledges and raise ambition to reduce their GHG emissions and meet the challenges of climate change. Since its inception, the Climate Promise has emphasized the role of subnational actors in meeting the climate challenge.
At COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021, UNDP launched the second phase of the initiative, ‘From Pledge to Impact’ to scale up support to turn NDC targets into concrete action. This latest iteration of Climate Promise support will allow countries to accelerate inclusive action to meet their targets, while continuing to push for greater ambition. Local action will be key.
This report offers snapshots of 19 countries around the globe where central, regional, and local governments have come together under the Climate Promise to work towards a unified national climate strategy.
Access the full report here: https://climatepromise.undp.org/research-and-reports/climate-action-ground-supporting-local-and-regional-governments-and-cities
or download the attached PDF of the report.