Daring Cities sets sight on COP27 with an eye to urban activism

The global forum concluded a month ago but this time around it aims to have further-reaching impact

Daring Cities 2022, the premier global forum of collective urban action on sustainability, took place 3-7 October, co-hosted by the German city of Bonn. The virtual forum showed once again that cities and regions are the epicentres of the climate emergency response.

Daring Cities 2022 consisted of seven high-level dialogues and thirteen workshops focusing on the exchange of best practices, providing technical training, and sharing timely insights from leaders taking bold climate action and tackling the multifaceted challenges of climate emergency finance.

Looking back on the event, the organizers have concluded that the results could be summarized in three cornerstones, the last of which remains to be placed during the upcoming COP27 climate summit in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, 6-18 November 2022.

Three Cornerstones

As expected and planned, the First Cornerstone of Daring Cities was the opportunity to Exchange good practices, knowledge and solutions to common issues. And this is precisely what 1800 participants from 700 cities did during the event.

Following the conclusion of the forum, Cornerstone Two was all about disseminating. Throughout Urban October – 31 days to promote a sustainable urban future recognized by UN Habitat – ICLEI gathered the knowledge exchanged during the global virtual forum and disseminated the learnings and perspectives from cities and regions at over ten events in order to reach broader, more diverse stakeholders.

With Cornerstone Three, ICLEI, as the United Nations’ designated focal point for Local Governments and Municipal Authorities Constituency (LGMA), will elevate the voices of cities and regions by hosting the Multilevel Action Pavilion in the Blue Zone with a broad diversity of partners at UNFCCC COP27 in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, 6-18 November, 2022.

“Sustainable urbanization and multilevel action are the game-changers as we move beyond commitments into implementation of the Paris Agreement and meet this moment in the climate emergency,” said Gino Van Begin, Secretary General, ICLEI World Secretariat.

Sharon Dijksma, Mayor of Utrecht, the Netherlands, will serve as the Special Envoy for UNFCCC COP27 Ministerials and Mohamed Sefiani, Mayor of Chefchaouen, Morocco, will serve as the Special Envoy for Africa for UNFCCC COP27.

“I commend the UNFCCC COP27 Presidency for their focus on implementation at the local level through initiatives like SURGe and the first Ministerial on Climate and Urbanization. I invite cities and regions to support these initiatives and me in my mission to give multi-level action a central position during COP27. If successful, this will be the last COP where cities are not formally recognized voices on the agenda,” said Sharon Dijksma, Mayor City of Utrecht, The Netherlands.

City and regional representatives can support Mayor Dijksma’s call to action here. The schedule and virtual registration for the COP27 LGMA Multilevel Action Pavilion are now available at cities-and-regions.org/cop27.

The LGMA’s advocacy agenda will be released during a press conference at COP27 Blue Zone in Sharm El Sheikh on 6 November Sunday at 12:00 CEST. In-person and virtual attendance options are available.