Vincent Chauvet, Mayor of Autun, France
Dear Chairs,
I am Vincent Chauvet, Mayor of Autun (France), and a Member of the European Committee of the Regions, the European institution representing cities and regions. And I am speaking on behalf of the Local Government and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) Constituency.
COP28 has marked a significant milestone to advance the necessary mechanisms for delivering multilevel climate action. This has been demonstrated through:
- the agreement to operationalize a Loss and Damage Fund that reaches the most affected local and regional governments and communities through direct financing
- the organisation of the Local Climate Action Summit
- the launch of the COP28’s Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP), which is now supported by 66 Parties
- and complemented through this morning’s Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change, which underscored the importance and interest of national governments to collaborate seamlessly with towns, cities, regions, and other subnational entities.
The LGMA constituency applauds the COP28 Presidency for their exemplary leadership and their dedication to driving multilevel action forward. Because these commitments are not made to subnational governments, these commitments are made to citizens.
Therefore, the LGMA Constituency echoes the outcomes of this morning’s Ministerial meeting and would like to urge all Parties to transform these commitments into tangible action. And we invite you to do this by including both in the Global Stocktake outcome report and in the COP28 decision documents a clear reference to the need for national governments to actively involve all levels of governance, including local and regional governments, in shaping the next round of NDCs due in 2025.
Because in order to keep the ambition of the Paris Agreement alive, we ALL need to work together.
Thank you.
