Cities show they are climate change ‘doers’ while nations sit on their hands

Cities have consistently shown more drive to achieve climate goals than their national overlords, as exemplified by the US cities’ Chicago Charter to hit the key targets even as ex-President Trump pulled out the Paris Agreement. A new report by UN Habitat shows that just a quarter of national commitments included strong urban contributions confirms this.

Research by UN Habitat unveiled during the opening of the UNEA-6 Cities and Regions Summit on Friday 23 February revealed evidence of a lack of city-focused content in the nationally determined contributions (NDC) that governments must make as part of the Paris Agreement process.

Just 27 per cent of commitments included what UN Habitat called “strong” urban elements, which would indicate an ambition to leverage the potential of cities to achieve national decarbonisation targets. Two-thirds registered either low or no urban content, showing that their cities’ potential was being overlooked by the majority of countries.

Interestingly the governments that were at the high end included low- and middle-income countries such as Colombia, Jordan, Morocco, Sierra Leone and Rwanda. However national governments that fell short included high-income economies such as Australia, Canada, European Union member states, Japan and the United States. The old proverb, “do as I say, not as I do” comes to mind.

Commitments came from around a third of the 72 nations that endorsed the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships for Climate Action (CHAMP) at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai late last year agreeing to include cities and towns in their action plans and to foster collaboration between national and subnational levels.

Clearly more focus is needed: cities are home to over 50 per cent of the world’s population and are responsible for 70 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, the 50 largest urban emitting areas account for almost 40 per cent of all urban greenhouse gas emissions.

UN Habitat says there is now a clear opportunity for governments to integrate urban priorities, such as mitigation and adaptation measures tailored to urban areas, in the next NDC revision cycle in 2025, which will culminate at the COP30 summit in Belém, Brazil in November of that year.

The C40 Cities group of urban majors and governors was quick to seize on the report, saying that the findings demonstrated the need for many nations to go further and seize the opportunity that cities offer to achieve decarbonisation targets. Multi-level partnerships between local and national levels could help to close the gap between current commitments and global climate goals, they said.

As Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, the C40 Co-Chair and Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone, puts it, mayors and governors are “doers” when it comes to climate action, pointing to areas such as decarbonising public transport systems and combating emissions from waste.

But while city leaders are nimble, progressive and responsive, national governments appear to be sitting on their hands even as the climate emergency worsens. Let us hope that country leaders take a leaf from their urban equivalents ahead of the next round of NDC commitments.