COP24 - Locally Determined Contributions getting closer

Just to update you on my work on  Locally Determined Contributions to address carbon emissions as part of my role at  the EU Committee of the Regions and as part of their Negotiating Team for COP24 in Katovice in December. This could play a vital role in finding some of the additonal emissions reductions we need to make to ensure we keep global temperatures below 1.5 degrees C and maintain a reasonably stable climate.

There have been 2 exciting developments.

The first was a meeting last week of the ‘Non Party Stakeholders’ constituency in Krakow in advance of Katovice COP24 Climate Summit in December where they produced a statement about what they want out of the COP talks. Non Party Stakeholders covers global organisations representing farmers, women and gender NGOs, environmental NGOs, cities and regions, workers and their unions, as well as children and youth.  The ‘Parties’  are national Governments. They have produced a joint statement within which it states

The Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) constituency underscores the

need for collaboration among all levels of government and the importance of positioning

integrated, sustainable urban and territorial development as an important tool to accelerate

the implementation of NDCs. We look forward to having our engagement strengthened

through the Paris Agreement Work Programme. In 2018, cities and regions invited national

governments to fix and list NDCs under the Cities and Regions Talanoa Dialogues Initiative,

also through the formal recognition of the Locally Determined Contribution. 

The LGMA is the global body representing Local Government interests. The concept of Locally Determined Contribution (LDCs)s to address carbon emissions is something I’ve developed at the EU Committee of the Regions where it is now firmly adopted via an opinion on Climate Governance for which I was the Rapporteur.  So I’ll be using this to push for LDCs to be included in the UNFCCC Declaration coming out of COP24 to provide a defined role for Local and Regional Government internationally to address the gap in the carbon savings we need to make to achieve a minimum of 1.5 degrees rise in global temperatures.

The second piece of good news is  from the European Parliament where in their resolution in advance of COP24 they make the following statement last week.

Calls on the Commission to further intensify its relations with local and regional authorities, to enhance thematic and sectoral cooperation between cities and regions both within and outside the EU, to develop adaptation and resilience initiatives, and to strengthen sustainable development models and emission reduction plans in key sectors such as energy, industry, technology, agriculture and transport in both urban and rural areas, e.g. through twinning programmes, through the International Urban Cooperation programme, through support for platforms such as the Covenant of Mayors and by building new fora for exchanging best practice; calls on the EU and the Member States to support efforts by regional and local actors to introduce regionally and locally determined contributions (similar to NDCs) where climate ambition can be increased through this process;

All exciting stuff, there’s clearly a growing momentum for LDCs for COP24

For a primer on what LDCs is all about here is a link to the subject on my blog click here

There’s lots more on my blog on LDCs just click on the tabs section on the right of my page on 'Locally Determined Contributions' of course!

Here's the COP24 Conference site in Katovice where I'll be seeking to get LDCs adopted by the UNFCCC in December.