City-led initiatives to combine powers, resources to continue climate action at the local level
The launch of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy has been announced today. The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy creates a single global coalition, bringing together the two primary city initiatives working on climate change: the Compact of Mayors, launched in 2014, and the European Union’s Covenant of Mayors, launched in 2008. The event will be livestreamed here.
UCLG, as a founding member of the Global Compact, heavily involved in the Covenant through its European Section, CEMR, believes this new Global Covenant will need to build on the leadership of cities and their networks and is committed to working to ensure balanced representation and ownership of the initiative by local governments together with its regional sections and sister organizations.
We welcome the efforts made to ensure that the voluntary commitments of cities are acknowledged and supported by international institutions. We look forward to supporting city driven initiatives that will impact positively the global development agenda but also the quality of life of their citizens.”
Kadir Topbaş, Mayor of Istanbul and President of UCLG.
About the Compact of Mayors
The Compact of Mayors is a global coalition of mayors and city officials pledging to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions, enhance resilience to climate change, and to track their progress transparently. The Compact was launched in September of 2014 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, Michael R. Bloomberg. The Compact was activated under the leadership of the global city networks—C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40), ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) and the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG)—and with support from UN-Habitat, the UN’s lead agency on urban issues.
About The Covenant of Mayors
The Covenant of Mayors is the world’s biggest urban climate and energy initiative, involving 6800 cities and regions in 57 countries. Covenant Signatories, cities and regions alike, share a long-term vision of decarbonised and resilient territories providing sustainable and affordable energy to all. They voluntary commit to contributing to this vision by meeting objectives of mitigation, adaptation and access to energy, which are defined at regional or national levels. They produce Climate & Energy Action Plans that are subject to monitoring processes. Covenant signatories are encouraged to work together, cities with regions and states and then with national governments.
Click here to read UCLG Press Release announcing the merge.
