COP28 Advances Urban Climate Change Adaptation

COP28 will be remembered for its progress in addressing climate change in cities. 

This year’s event, held in Dubai from November 30 to December 11, 2023, featured the first ever Local Action Climate Summit within the official proceedings. Hosted by the COP28 Presidency and Bloomberg Philanthropies, the event recognized the critical role local leaders play in reducing emissions, addressing climate risk, and supercharging national efforts to move further and faster on climate progress. More than 200 mayors attended, and the kickoff panel featured Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, two of the co-chairs of the SDSN Global Commission on Urban SDG Finance.

Additionally, The second Urban Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change, sponsored by the COP 28 Presidency and UN-Habitat, convened more than 1,000 attendees, including a diverse set of ministers, local and regional leaders, financial institutions, and non-government stakeholders to agree on a suite of multilevel, Paris-aligned actions for cooperation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) space, focused on joint policy and finance for sustainable urbanization across sectors including buildings, waste, transport, water, energy, and nature.   

During the Local Climate Action Summit, the COP28 Presidency announced the groundbreaking Coalition of High Ambition Multilevel Partners (CHAMP) Pledge - endorsed by 64 countries committing to partner with subnational governments on the next round of NDCs and other climate plans and strategies. In total, nearly $470 million was mobilized toward urban climate action.

Finally, the Loss and Damages resolution included a new precedent – the ability to fund subnational governments. The SDSN Global Commission on Urban SDG Finance released a statement on subnational governments’ role in the Loss and Damages Fund Operational Guidelines. 

“The SDSN Global Commission for SDG Finance is pleased that the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) has been operationalized in COP 28 with the mandate of providing subnational governments with direct access to resources from the Fund. This is an important milestone. Now we need to make sure cities participate in the negotiation of the Loss and Damage Fund Operational Guidelines to ensure urban needs are duly considered,” said Mauricio Rodas, Former Mayor of Quito, Ecuador, and Fellow, Penn IUR.