COP27 climate talks reached its conclusions on Sunday 20 November after two weeks of negotiations. During the closing plenary, Vincent Chauvet (FR/Renew Europe), Mayor of Autun and member of the European Committee of the Regions, took the floor as the representative of the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) Constituency to the United Nations.
You can watch his address here
(4:44:16 to 4:47:10).
Read here a COP27 negotiations wrap up from the LGMA constituency.
During his speech at the COP27 closing plenary session, Vincent Chauvet
(FR/Renew Europe), Mayor of Autun, France, and member of the
European Committee of the Regions' COP27 delegation, said:
"It is an honour and a privilege to represent the European Committee of
the Regions as a part of the European Union delegation to COP27 and
representing today the constituency of local governments and municipal
authorities (LGMA) to the United Nations, being myself Mayor of the
city of Autun, France.
Indeed, mayors, presidents of regions and local elected representatives
from all over Europe and around the world have come to Sharm el-Sheikh
over the past two weeks to share their climate ambition - often greater
than that of States, and to demonstrate that they are the source and
driver force of climate action on the ground.
Global warming is indeed a global challenge that requires local
responses. Without local public actors and without structured and
effective multi-level collaboration, we will not be able to achieve the
objectives of the Paris agreement, nor to mitigate the impact of
climate change on our communities.
Local and regional governments wish to thank the Egyptian Presidency
for having organised – with the support of UN-Habitat, the first ever
ministerial meeting on urbanisation and climate change at a Conference
of Parties (COP). We invite future COP Presidencies to convene such
ministerial meetings on urbanisation and climate change like the one
organized at COP27 as a standing agenda item. In particular, we commend
the launching of the
COP27 Presidency 'Sustainable Urban Resilience for the next
Generation” (SURGe) initiative.
The LGMA constituency calls on the Secretariat of the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC)
and future COP presidencies to formally include the role of local and
regional authorities in the development of Nationally Determined
Contributions (NDCs) and the drafting of National Adaptation Plans
(NAPs).
While we welcome the fact that the financing of losses and damages has
been finally addressed, we nevertheless believe that the question of
direct financing to local authorities will ultimately and inevitably
arise, a call that we have been defending for several years.
The LGMA constituency is concerned that the issue of local adaptation
is not receiving the attention it deserves. Municipal and regional
diplomacy is insufficiently recognized and exploited as decentralized
cooperation is a powerful lever for accelerating local climate action.
LGMA and UNFCCC, let's join forces to deliver on the promises of the
next phase of the Paris Agreement."
Additional information:
In a COP27 press statement
, the European Committee of the Regions has taken the lead of a global
coalition of mayors and presidents of networks of cities and regions
calling for a formal role in UN climate talks and a stronger recognition in
the implementation of the Paris agreement.