History of the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities Constituency

The Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) constituency emerged from a growing recognition among local governments worldwide of the urgent need to address environmental and sustainability issues. This awareness led to the founding of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (formerly the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) in 1990, which became a pivotal platform for local governments to exchange knowledge, share best practices, and collaborate on sustainability initiatives.

The LGMA’s journey started at the 1993 Municipal Leaders’ Summit on Climate Change in New York, followed by a second summit in Berlin in 1995. The success of these summits laid the groundwork for establishing the LGMA Constituency in 1995, with ICLEI serving as its focal point, alongside business and environmental NGO groups. To ensure the involvement of local and subnational governments, the LGMA coordinates climate negotiation inputs, advocates for diverse stakeholder representation, collaborates with COP presidencies, and promotes the UNFCCC Friends of Multilevel Action.

The Kyoto Protocol, established in 1997, was the first international framework for climate action. However, its outcomes were non-binding and primarily targeted developed countries, which were the major historical polluters. This left local and subnational governments with limited roles in the global climate agenda.

In 2007, recognizing the need for a more inclusive approach, the UN decided to broaden the climate process globally to conclude by 2009, in response to the impending expiration of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012. Ahead of the 2009 COP in Copenhagen, the LGMA constituency put forth its demand to be recognized, engaged, and empowered in global climate efforts.

However, it wasn’t until the 2015 Paris Agreement that the first of these demands—recognition—was achieved. The 2015 Paris Agreement marked a turning point by acknowledging the vital role of local and subnational governments in accelerating transformative climate action. This introduced Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and recognized that these governments are crucial in enhancing and achieving more ambitious climate strategies.

Following the 2015 Paris Agreement, the LGMA continued to advocate for its second demand: engagement. The 2017 Talanoa Dialogues, initiated by COP23’s Fijian Presidency, united national and local leaders to link urban and climate agendas, enhancing multilevel policies. This effort bolstered local climate plans and accelerated national climate goals. The LGMA furthered this by hosting the Cities and Regions Talanoa Dialogues, with 60 local events in 40 countries.

At COP24 in Katowice, Poland, in 2018, the LGMA showcased effective procedures from their dialogues, leading over 60 nations to adopt more ambitious NDCs by COP26 in 2021. This resulted in the inclusion of the words “multilevel action” and emphasized the crucial role of local and subnational entities in the Glasgow Climate Pact.

By late 2022, many cities and regions worldwide had declared climate emergencies, highlighting the need for local leadership in global climate efforts. Despite this, only 24% of NDCs had strong urban content. The LGMA successfully pushed for including local and subnational inputs in the first Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement, set for COP28 in Dubai in 2023. Through the #Stocktake4ClimateEmergency initiative, numerous cities and regions hosted local events on topics like local ambition, NDC integration, and climate justice.

The Global Stocktake at COP28 revealed that global efforts are still falling short of limiting warming to 1.5°C and highlighted the need for multilevel and cooperative actions. This was echoed in the COP28 UAE Consensus and entrenched by the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnership (CHAMP) initiative, which fosters collaboration between national and subnational governments in updating NDCs before COP30 in 2025. Launched at a Local Climate Action Summit by COP28 and Bloomberg Philanthropies, with support from LGMA, the initiative has been endorsed by 72 national governments.

The LGMA’s third demand, “empowerment,” is now the focus from COP28 in Dubai to COP30 in Belém. Success, particularly at COP29 in Baku, could lead to the full empowerment of subnational governments by 2025, signaling a process that systematically recognizes, engages, and empowers local and subnational governments, leading to new NDCs and initiatives that integrate these governments as central players in global climate action.