Negotiations Tracker

With climate action now firmly based on two strong footings—following COP26 (Ambition) and COP27 (Climate Justice) conclusions—the successful delivery of the second phase of the Paris Agreement depends on finance, governance, and capacity building. At COP28, the LGMA will aim to operationalize the SURGe Initiative, localize the Global Stocktake through #Stocktake4ClimateEmergency, and accelerate the UNFCCC engagement throughout the year and our Multilevel Action Pavilion.

After decades of talks and delays, COP27 finally provides loss and damage funding for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters, along with a package of decisions. This was also the COP in which the Presidency created a Sustainable Urban Resilience for the Next Generation (SURGe) Initiative focused on sustainable urban resilience, as well as the first COP to host a Climate & Urbanization Ministerial to gather national urban ministers.

The first NDCs are not fully compatible with the Paris Agreement because they were all prepared before its adoption; in other words, they did not address key goals like multilevel action, climate neutrality and 1.5°C targets. That is why the success of COP26 was linked on the new and ambitious NDCs, to be prepared before COP26 by all nations in collaboration with local and regional governments. “Multilevel Action COP” is indeed the motto of the LGMA COP26 Roadmap.

Serving as the second meeting for the Parties to the Paris Agreement, the 25th UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP 25) focused on raising ambition ahead of 2020, the year in which countries were expected to update their national climate action plans and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The convention aimed to fully operationalize the Paris Agreement, as well as showcase and amplify the climate actions undertaken by cities, regions, business, investors and civil society.

COP24 was a powerful example of how multilateral systems can overcome unforeseen shocks and produce tangible results. The Convention concluded with the adoption of the Paris Agreement Work Programme, also known as the “Katowice Rulebook,” which explicitly details the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Although some technical details were pushed to next year’s COP, the essential components for delivering multilateral climate action are now in place.