DARING CITIES 2022
RESPONDING TO THE CLIMATEEMERGENCY THROUGH FINANCEDARING CITIES 2022: RESPONDING TO THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY THROUGH FINANCE
This publication is supported through financial contributions from the Federal City of Bonn,the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the Foundation for International Dialogueof the Savings Bank in Bonn, the Ministry of the Environment of the Government of Japan,
and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of Germany.
The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors only.
Created by ICLEI and the Federal City of Bonn, Daring Cities is a community that recognizes and empowers courageous urban leaders – including mayors and other decision-makers,
technical staff, researchers, private sector representatives, and community organizers –to disrupt business-as-usual and shift towards business-as-possible.
Daring Cities works to exchange knowledge, build capacity, and elevate the voices of diverse
stakeholders to accelerate multilevel action on the climate emergency.
For more information, visit: https://daringcities.org/

PUBLISHER

AUTHORSCONTRIBUTORSICLEI – Local Governments
for Sustainability e.V.
Kaiser-Friedrich-Str. 753113 Bonn, Germany
https://iclei.org/

Yunus Arikan
Alyssa Chenault
Eszter Mogyorósy
Beatriz Fonseca

Matteo Bizzotto
Johanna Buchmann-Duck
Patricia Festa Secanella
Sajili Oberoi

ADDITIONAL DARING CITIESTEAM MEMBERS

DESIGN
Duven Diener

Catalina Schlienger
León Díaz-Bone
Gino Van Begin
Giulia Salvaterra
Joseph Wladkowski
Olga Tokareva

COPYRIGHT© 2022 ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability e.V. All rights reserved. The ICLEI World
Secretariat holds the copyright of this publication, including text, analyses, logos and layout
designs. Requests to reproduce or to quote material in part or in full should be sent todaring.cities@iclei.org. ICLEI encourages use and dissemination of this report, and permission
to reproduce this material without modification will usually be granted without charge
for non-commercial use.

CITATION
This publication should be cited as: ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, 2022. Daring
Cities 2022: Responding to the Climate Emergency through Finance. Bonn, Germany.

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CONTENTS
Daring Cities 2022: Bold Leaders Tackling the Climate Emergency 4State of the Climate Emergency in 2022

5

Achievements and successes

6

Finance as Key to Effective Climate Emergency Response

8Cornerstone One: Exchange

11

Key Conclusions from Daring Cities 2022: Cornerstone One - Exchange

13

Now is the time to formalize climate emergency action into city andregional processes

13

More funding options are available to cities than ever before,
yet access to those funds remains a challenge

15

A just climate transition depends on multilevel action, community engagement,
local investment, and trust
17
Spotlight on Youth18

Spotlight on Gender

19

Resilience and adaptation are top priorities for many local governments
where unprecedented climate impacts are being felt today

21

Session Spotlight: Global Leaders Roundtable - Innovative Climate Financefor Multilevel Action Towards COP27

22

Key Conclusions on Multilevel Climate Finance

24

TOWARD UNFCCC COP27

25

Cornerstone Two: Disseminate
List of Daring Cities 2022 Cornerstone Two Events

Cornerstone Three: Advocate

27
29

31

LGMA Key Advocacy Points at UNFCCC COP27

32

Daring Cities at the LGMA Multilevel Action Pavilion

33

COP27 Outcomes34

Climate and Urbanization Ministerial

34

SURGe Initiative

35

Global Stocktake

35

Loss and Damage Fund36

Climate Emergency Finance Advocacy Paper

37

ICLEI Global Youth Statement

38

Daring LGMA Leaders at COP27

39

Daring Cities 2022: In the numbers

41

3

DARING CITIES 2022: BOLD LEADERS TACKLING THE
CLIMATE EMERGENCY
Our world is on life support. The year 2022 has been filled with “unprecedented”, “once inlifetime”, “first-ever” climate disasters like droughts, floods, wildfires, and extreme temperaturesin every corner of the world. Yet a comprehensive, global response to the climate emergency has
been largely stalled due to the COVID-19 recovery, war, and threats of recession.
Cities, towns and regions are on the front-lineof the climate emergency, and many have
stepped up as first responders to this crisis.
We consider cities and regions to be “daring”
when they:• take urgent action that reflects our state ofclimate emergency.
• are ambitious in the face of doubt.
• learn from the past and other cities.
• are accountable to their residents andtrack their progress.
With over 2,500 local and regional governments- accounting for 1 billion people - having
declared a climate emergency, cities, towns andregions are a source of inspiration for how to
use their power and influence to be the change
they want to see in the world.
Daring Cities builds on the legacy of the wellestablished Resilient Cities Congress series
and has transformed it into a community.
This community exchanges knowledge, builds
capacity, and elevates the voices of diverse
stakeholders through three cornerstones(Exchange - Disseminate - Advocate), aimed atachieving multilevel action in response to theglobal climate emergency.

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Cornerstone One - Exchange: During 3-7
October, 2022, ICLEI - Local Governments for
Sustainability, in partnership with the Federal
City of Bonn, hosted the only fully virtual, freeof cost Forum - Daring Cities, consisting ofworkshops and high-level dialogues that sharedbest practices, technical training, and insightsfrom leaders taking bold climate action now
and tackling the multifaceted challenges ofclimate emergency finance.
Cornerstone Two - Disseminate: Throughout
Urban October – 31 days to promote asustainable urban future recognized by UN
Habitat – ICLEI gathered the knowledge
exchanged during the global virtual forum anddisseminated the learnings and perspectives
from cities and regions at over ten eventsin order to reach broader, more diverse
stakeholders.
Cornerstone Three - Advocate: ICLEI, as theUnited Nations’ designated focal point for
Local Governments and Municipal Authorities
Constituency (LGMA), elevated the voices ofmore than 500+ representatives, including
150+ Mayors, Governors, Councilors and otherlocal and regional government leaders, byhosting the LGMA Multilevel Action Pavilion
in the Blue Zone with over 70 sessions, incollaboration with 45 partners at UNFCCC
COP27 in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, 6-18
November, 2022.

STATE OF THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY IN 2022
Climate science shows we must make deep, civilization-wide changes by 2030 to limit a planetarycatastrophe. This is a matter of survival, particularly for the most at-risk, but increasingly for every
place and population on earth.
We are already living in a world where climate change-induced natural disasters are creating
devastating impacts for our communities and ecosystems and unmanageable financial costs for local
and regional governments. In 2022, some areas in the world experienced record-high temperatures
and are suffering drought and wildfires, while others are faced with flash floods.
However, international crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and Russian-Ukraine war have stalled
broad-based, swift action to appropriately respond to the climate emergency, despite the urgency ofthe situation.
Where significant progress has been achieved at the international level is in the engagement ofsustainable cities, urbanization and multilevel action in global efforts, including:
References supporting the role of cities and regions to respond to the climate emergency havebeen made within the G7 Presidency Programme, as well as Foreign Affairs, Development andClimate/Environmental Ministerial and Heads of States Communique.
Within the UNFCCC processes, the LGMA Constituency contributed to the expansion of the Global
Stocktake to include cities, regions and nations globally.
The first ever G7 Sustainable Urbanization Ministerial was scheduled and the Urban7 solidified apath to becoming an official engagement group.
Commonwealth Heads of States agreed on a Call to Action on urbanization.
Review of the New Urban Agenda enabled new momentum.
The COP27 Presidency convened the first-ever Climate and Urbanization Ministerial at COP27 andlaunched a SURGe sustainable cities initiative as part of the Solutions Day of COP27.

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Achievements and successes made at the local and regional level were shared during the Daring
Cities 2022 Virtual Forum, showcasing how different cities, towns, and regions answered the Daring
Cities Call for Transformation and highlighting additional examples of good practices related toclimate emergency response and climate emergency finance.
With the leadership of Makindye Ssabagado
Municipal Council, Uganda, four cities accessed
technical assistance (TA) provided by the European
Investment Bank (EIB) and World Bank managed City
Gap Fund for their Transformative Actions Program(TAP) project, Sustainable Waste Management Projectfor Makindye Ssabagabo, Kira, Nansana and Entebbe
Municipalities. The success of their joint application
relies on their clear rationale and a solid set of actions,involving the key stakeholders and guaranteeing
political buy-in. Through this TA, they now get support
to design pre- feasibility studies for their waste
management project, filling the knowledge gap andfostering climate action.
The City of Makati, Philippines, declared a climate
emergency and is mainstreaming both mitigation
and adaptation in their budgeting. Recognizing theimportance of preventive measures, the city receives
technical guidance from the Climate Insurance Linked
Resilient Infrastructure Finance (CILRIF) program,managed by United Nations Capital Development
Fund (UNCDF) and supported by ICLEI. The city´scommitments triggered investments in a resilient
energy grid, the adoption of a green building codeand incentives for the construction of energy efficient
infrastructure. Among others, the City of Makati
recently received a USD 30 million grant from the
Korean government to develop a smart transportsystem which includes 40 electric vehicles and theestablishment of transport hubs. The program will
promote job creation, digitalization and reduce thecitizens’ carbon footprint, as well as the city’s generalemissions of greenhouse gassesThe city also endorsed
and is now piloting the ICLEI led Malmö Commitment,
and joined the Race to Resilience campaign to engage
in relevant discussions on climate emergency at the
local level.
77 local communities in Benin, Africa are receiving
technical expertise support on finance mechanisms
such as Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and carbon
market options through the GIZ funded Benin Energy
Plus project, a partnership between ICLEI and the
National Association of Communities in Benin (ANCB).
In the frame of the project, a Toolkit was developed, andpresented at Daring Cities, to support local governments
globally in designing and implementing PPP models, aswell as engaging in carbon markets.

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Makindye Ssabagado
Municipal Council

Check out
the Daring
Cities Call forTransformation

Learn more
about CILRIF

Check out the“Unlocking PublicPrivate Partnerships
Toolkit”.

Indore Municipal Corporation,
India, is issuing green bonds
targeting individual investors
for the installation of solar
power plants under the scopeof their Captive Solar Project.
The bonds have an innovative
structure that supports theacceleration of sustainableenergy financing, helping
to provide funds to climate
projects and contributing tocarbon footprint reduction.
Municipal authoritiesof the City of Santa Fé,
Argentina, faced difficulties
in obtaining the necessary
funds to reconstruct the city’s
infrastructure after flooding
and used land-based tools
to overcome these barriers.
The city created a mandatory
rainwater harvesting system
in exchange for building rights
where landowners are required
to pay and install or build
rainwater harvesting devices.
The Municipality of Cascais,
Portugal, has implemented
56 climate projects, throughthe European City Facility,that are part of their current
local climate action plan called
Route to Carbon Neutrality
2050. These projects also
demonstrate an inspiringand outstanding example ofmultilevel governance, since
it is the first municipal levelcommitment towards carbon
neutrality in Portugal, alignedwith the country’s commitment
to climate change.
The City of Monterrey, Mexicodeclared a climate emergency
in 2022. With a city populationof just over 5 million people,
Monterrey was the largest city
to declare a climate emergency,
in line with the Call forTransformation in 2022.

Learn more about
the European City
Facility

Hear from Luis
Donaldo Colosio
Riojas, City ofMonterrey, Mexico,
Mayor at the
opening plenary.

An updated Compendium of Good Practices will be available in Q1 2023.

7

FINANCE AS A KEY TO EFFECTIVE CLIMATE EMERGENCY RESPONSE
The Paris Agreement called for “making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low
greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development”. Yet cities, towns and regions
continue to report financing as a main barrier to responding to the climate emergency.
The Daring Cities 2022 Virtual Forum focused on climate emergency finance with particularattention to:• Governance and Public Finance• Public Private Partnerships• Innovative Finance• Resilience Finance• Climate Justice FinanceWith the increased occurrence of climate hazards, and the world facing
a constant climate emergency scenario, it is imperative to move frombusiness as usual to more incisive action to tackle climate change which
includes disaster risk management and reparation of loss and damages.
According to the last report of the Climate Policy Initiative entitled The Stateof Cities Climate Finance, published in June 2021, urban infrastructure investment needs have been
estimated at USD 4.5 – 5.4 trillion annually from 2015-2030.
Daring Cities 2022 confirmed the necessity and urgency to redirect private and public finance inorder to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement. This means not only to increase the amountavailable, but also to make it accessible for the cities that need it the most, by overcoming
the persisting technical and financial limitations that undermine the capacity of subnational
governments in accessing those funds. Hence, increased technical and financial support to cities,
towns and regions, particularly in the Global South, is crucial to drive urban decarbonization. Daring
Cities aimed to address this demand through peer learning and important exchanges on challenges
and opportunities in financing resilient and green infrastructure at the local level, as well as, theimportance of a just transition which considers vulnerable groups and gender issues.
As the sessions showed, financing sustainable
development requires an integrated and holistic
approach, supported by multi stakeholder partnerships
and strong political commitments at all levels. During
the session “Moving from triage to treatment: The state of
the climate emergency in 2022”, Katja Dörner, Mayor, Cityof Bonn, highlighted how these multilevel partnerships
are fundamental to foster local climate resilience: “It’sof utmost importance that the different actors work
together in the preparation of the event, throughout it
and also afterwards to build back better and to make our cities more resilient.”
This cooperative approach needs to be Paris-aligned, as
highlighted by Sophie deConnick, Global Manager of theUnited Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) Local
Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL), during the highlevel session “Close the gap: Innovative finance for urban
transformation”. Article 6.8 of the Paris Agreement provides
a space for advancing such approaches that can address
urbanization at scale. The multilevel cooperation should
include different actors, from public to private sector,

8

including subnational development banks that can work as catalysts
of local climate action. In this sense, Daring Cities also highlighted theimportance of global initiatives such as the Global Alliance of Subnational
Development Banks, coordinated by FMDV, in leveraging opportunities
towards a more resilient and sustainable development for all.
Cities have also showcased inspiring examples of how mainstreaming resilience andadaptation is a fruitful strategy to unlock investments from different actors. In thecase of the City of Makati, Philippines, the city administration, just like many others,
used to prioritize mitigation measures (USD 1.1 million) compared to adaptation (USD
356,000). Recognizing the importance of adaptation, Mayor Binay, ICLEI’s GexCom
member and the Innovative Finance portfolio holder, has shifted policies and decided to embed it inbudgeting processes. Mayor Binay also values the use of innovative finance instruments to help thecity in unlocking climate finance and, for that, she advocates for a constant dialogue with the private
sector, engaging in blended finance and public-private partnerships. Adaptation measures are also
closely linked to a just transition, since these projects largely impact poor and marginalized people.
In most cases, local and regional governments do not have the technicaltools to design bankable projects. To address this, project preparation
facilities such as the Transformative Actions Program (TAP) are essential.
Since its creation in 2015, the TAP has given visibility to and supported more than 300 subnational
governments to improve their concept notes, thereby developing investment-ready projects.

During the Daring Cities 2022 Virtual Forum, six local governments that are part of the TAP
pipeline pitched their projects before a technical jury and received feedback on how to enhancetheir ideas and reach bankability. For two projects from Argentina and Mexico that focused on thetransport and mobility sectors, the jury recommended:
•
•
•
•
•

Having a concrete set of actions for next steps;
Specifying who their partners are, in what capacity they need these partnerships and whatrole the partners will play;
Identifying what kind of financial assistance they require and what the feasible financing
options are;
Knowing to what extent technical assistance is required and how far along the projects are
already with technical assistance; andFiguring out how they are planning to leverage the capital.

9Additionally, for three projects from Germany, Mexico and Brazil, that focused on mobility, energy,
and green spaces, the jury provided the following feedback:••••Be clear from the beginning on what the project is trying to achieve;
Have background information on how the projects reached their current stage;
Provide more contextualized information; andExplain what impact the project is trying to achieve.

Overall the jury felt there were a lot of possibilities and potential for technical and financial
assistance to turn these projects into action.
Successful stories were also showcased from projects that accessed technical assistance, such as:•

The Provincial Government of DKI Jakarta, Indonesia, shared how they used C40 - Cities
Finance Facility (CFF) to fund their 100 E-Bus project. The Project Preparation Facility helped
them estimate the full lifecycle costs of the project to better appeal to funders.

•

The Municipality of Cascais, Portugal, shared how European City Facility (EUCF) helped
them to fund a unique aspect of their energy communities project that allows them to giveenergy away to people in need, from solar panels placed in social support facilities, like
daycares.

•

Makindye Ssabagabo Municipal Council, Uganda, shared how they used the Gap Fund andClimate Smart Cities Challenge Project to fund a sustainable waste management project for
Makindye Ssabagabo, Kira, Nansana and Entebbe Municipalities and encouraged cities tosubmit joint applications with surrounding areas to cover wider populations.

Innovative finance instruments such as PPPs were also featured. The Benin Energy Plus project,which includes the development and dissemination of a Toolkit on Public-Private Partnerships,
aiming to assist local governments in designing and implementing a PPP on solar energy projects
and provide detailed insights on how subnational governments can engage in carbon markets, waspresented.
Daring Cities was able to promote inspiring examples from different cities, whileraising awareness of the remaining challenges of addressing climate emergency
finance at the subnational level.

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CORNERSTONE ONE

EXCHANGE

11

“Cities can show they are the engines of change and beacons of hope for future generations by creating thejobs, livelihoods, and neighbourhoods that will attract people through what cities have always done best:
come together, mix, learn and innovate.”
Nigel Topping, United Nations Climate Change
High-Level Champion

Daring Cities 2022 kicked off on 3 October 2022, World Habitat Day and was attended by 1,800
ambitious climate action leaders, practitioners and change-makers. The five-day global virtualforum consisted of seven high level dialogues and thirteen workshops. The forum focused on
exchanging best practices, providing technical training, and sharing timely insights from leaders
taking bold climate action and tackling the multifaceted challenges of climate emergency finance.
Daring Cities 2022 applied the Know-Act-Lead theory of change approach, focusing on:
Know: Daring Cities presents and shares themost cutting-edge research and information on
climate change and its impact on cities aroundthe world, aimed at creating dialogue between
researchers and practitioners. These discussions further support the IPCC Cities Research
Agenda, as well as the IPBES process. In 2022,
the Summary for Urban Policy Makers by IPCC
was presented and discussed.
Act: Daring Cities showcased exemplary local
climate action being taken and financed by urban leaders of cities around the world in addressing the climate emergency, from adaptive

and resilience-building measures to efforts tomitigate further contributions to anthropogenic climate change. In 2022, examples of cities
advancing on local climate emergency declarations like Monterrey were highlighted.
Lead: Daring Cities facilitated action-oriented
discussions with key global partners, including
the UNFCCC and COP Presidencies, on delivering the Paris Agreement through collaborative, multilevel action. In 2022, multilevel action
through G7/U7 and the COP27 Presidency’s
SURGe (Sustainable Urban Resilience for the
next Generation) initiative were the focus.

“Bonn is committed to climate neutrality by 2035. Daring Cities 2022 again brought together a communityof like-minded leaders, who shared insights on how to embed climate action across departments, how toengage all sectors to meet the goal of net zero emissions – and, equally important, how to finance thismajor transformation”, said
Katja Dörner, Mayor, City of Bonn, Germany, who co-chairs the Climate Action
and Low Emission Portfolio within the ICLEI Global Executive Committee.

12KEY CONCLUSIONS FROM DARING CITIES 2022:
CORNERSTONE ONE - EXCHANGE
The global virtual forum showed once again that cities and regions are the epicenter of theclimate emergency response. With perspectives from every region of the world, Daring Cities
2022 made clear:

Now is the time to formalize climate emergency
action into city and regional processes todemonstrate that multilevel action vision of Glasgow
Climate Pact is turned into practice.
Daring Cities 2022 emphasized the importance of moving beyond commitments to instead institutionalize climate action across all branches of government, within all departments, leaving no
one behind. Speakers offered examples from declaring a climate emergency to building resilience
into disaster recovery budgets or designating climate initiatives, as mandatory government work.
Additional highlights included:

Debra Roberts, IPCC Working Group ll, Co-Chair, emphasized theimportance and global impact of cities, despite their sall geographic
footprint saying, “Almost all of the world’s non-urban population is
impacted by urban systems by connecting infrastructure and family
and kinship ties.”

Luis Donaldo Colosio Riojas, Mayor, City of Monterrey, Mexico, invitedother subnational governments to come forward and join them in declaring
a climate emergency in their cities because “The only way to solve thisever growing, ever more difficult puzzle is through accepting that we face anunprecedented crisis that requires both local and global efforts.”

On the importance of cities declaring climate emergencies, Margaret Hender,
Co-founder of CEDAMIA, said, “People know they cannot address the climate
crisis alone. But to be motivated to join, they need to know that their local council
and many others in their community are also taking action.”13

After experiencing typhoons in 2017 and 2019, Seberang Perai Municipal Council,
Malaysia, developed a climate action plan with 5 commitments that support the Penang
Green Agenda 2030 in transforming the region to become a family focused, green, andsmart state.

Ono Hiroshi, Vice-Minister for Global Environmental Affairs, Ministry ofEnvironment, Japan, emphasized the shift from negotiation to implementationin the climate emergency: “We cannot afford to slow down our efforts toward
decarbonization. Our commitment to accelerating the global effort in this critical
decade is unwavering. In Japan, the number of zero carbon cities exploringzero carbon emissions by 2050 has now reached 766, covering 94% ofJapan’s population.”

In Germany, the federal law defines certain duties which local governments
must invest in. “Climate measures are still voluntary at the local level, notmandatory, and that has to be changed”, said Katja Dörner, Mayor, City ofBonn, Germany; ICLEI Global Executive Committee Member; and Co-Host of
Daring Cities.

Abigail Binay, Mayor, City of Makati, Philippines, and ICLEI Global Executive
Committee Member, pointed out that current disaster response and recovery
budgets should be expanded to include resilience: ‘It would be an opportunity toadvance and fund climate change adaptation and innovations locally.”

We learned how the expanded climate innovation agenda and focus on
creating flourishing lives for the projected world population in 2100 of 11
billion people, building on the strengths of various stakeholders, while
shifting to a life-centered approach, can tap into the power of the fourthindustrial revolution with an example from A.M. Rakeeb, Mayor, Kalmunai
Municipal Council, Sri Lanka:“The main challenge is shifting the focus on climate from sectors and structures tohuman needs. This is embedded in our city due to our long history of exposure to
weather calamities.”

Hana Morel, Sustainability and Advocacy Lead, Museum of London Archaeology& ICOMOS spoke on how to mend current divides in our society saying,“Focusing on culture and heritage, eg: placemaking, can reconnect people and create
more inclusive policies that are proven to offer better results in terms of sustainablegrowth and enriching lives.”

14More funding options are available to cities thanever before, yet access to those funds remains achallenge.
Daring Cities 2022 spreads a message of hope when it comes to climate emergency financing.
Many examples of innovative financing solutions were shared including tools, facilities, and PPPs
that have worked for cities, towns, and regions from across the globe. Climate emergency financing
challenges were also shared, pointing to a lack of technical expertise or capacity within local
governments to create bankable projects, discrepancies between available funding and funding
being distributed, and the red tape, slow pace and disconnect between communities and financial
institutions. Particularly, for cities, towns, and regions in the Global South, they would prefer andare better positioned to receive grants rather than loans.
Additional highlights included:
Nigel Jollands, Associate Director, EBRD and Steering Committee of the CCFLA,
gave us a glimpse of hope about the current willingness to invest in climate
projects saying, “Donors are so much more active now and willing to contribute if they
can see that the projects that they’re going to help finance are part of a bigger vision.”
Examples of innovative finance models like Land Value Capture (LVC), that cangenerate revenue for a city while ensuring equitable benefits of climate resilience
efforts, were shared from the Capital District of Bogotá, Colombia, the City of Santa
Marta, Colombia, and the City of Santa Fé, Argentina. National governments wereencouraged to create enabling environments that guide cities to use innovative
financial instruments such as LVC by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Felix Akrofi, Senior Officer, Sustainable Energy, ICLEI World Secretariat, pointed
out that “Public Private Partnerships are a unique opportunity for a lot of projects that
require a lot of capital expenditure to get started off the ground by bringing public funds
together, and the private element adds efficiency, making sure that the project reaches
its intended outcome, which is a problem with public funds, especially in developing
countries.”

Frank Cownie, President, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability; Mayor, Cityof Des Moines, USA proclaimed the historic passing of the Inflation Reduction Act
as a landmark example of collaborative climate emergency financing saying, “Of the$369B provided by Inflation Reduction Act, a significant portion is accessible to cities
and offers a good practice model for other countries to look to for facilitating local tonational climate action.”

Sophie de Coninck from Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL) spotlighted
their work through performance-based grants in 34 countries in Africa, Asia Pacificand the Caribbean, to reform the way the system is using intergovernmental fiscal
transfers for local level climate action.

15

The International Institute for Environment and Development shared how
community-based financing is an inclusive framework rather than a rigid modelof delivery. Learn more in this Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation andDevelopment (BMZ) funded report.

Margaret Hender, Co-founder, CEDAMIA, made a pitch for local green bonds
saying that they are “a very effective and empowering way of engaging the public.
People can invest even quite small amounts and get satisfaction from seeing tangible
and almost immediate on the ground climate solutions.”

Speaking on the importance of data as a tool to access funding and citing ICLEI
USA’s ClearPath Climate Planner software as resource, Melissa Englund,Sustainability Coordinator, City of Englewood, USA, said “Data is a powerful funding
mechanism to show the need in our community and the impact of the work and to open
a conversation, good or bad, on where a city is on their goals, so we can plan today fora better tomorrow.”
CDP encouraged cities to view financial risk disclosure as their legal duty.
Alexandra Hill, Senior Technical Analyst, CDP North America, indicated“Climate related financial disclosure is a good practice and is how cities stay ahead of
the curve.” We also learned that now is the time for cities to get involved with the
Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, as there are indications that
financial disclosure will become mandatory in the near future.

16A just climate transition depends on multilevel
action, community engagement, local investment,
and trust.
Daring Cities 2022 spotlighted the disproportionate impact that the climate emergency has on
women and youth, persons with disabilities, minorities and marginalized groups, and brought
attention to programs across the globe that are working to right this wrong.

“A just transition means to implement the inevitable ecological transformation of the entire economy andsociety in a way that is as socially equitable as possible. We need to make sure not to overlook the people,
especially the most vulnerable, when fighting climate change. We need to make sure to leave no one
behind”, said

Ruben Werchan, Senior Policy Officer for Sustainable Urban Development, Federal
Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany.

Mehrnaz Ghojeh, Head CFF Climate Action Implementation, Head Knowledge andRegional Engagement, C40 Cities, provided guidance on how to approach climate
justice projects saying, “Projects that really maximize the benefits for frontline andmarginalized groups are not just focusing on avoiding unintended consequences, butthey really go beyond and find out the existing systemic barriers and how the project cancontribute to address those.”

Representatives from community-based organizations in Africa, Asia and Latin
America shared how bottom-up approaches and community engagement are
paramount, but support from the local and national level is needed to scale
them up.

The City of Malmö, Sweden, highlighted how they bring different sectors within theircity together through their Green Roof project and Sustainable Business Hub, to focus
on resilience and sustainability to ensure no one gets left behind.

Abigail Binay, Mayor, City of Makati, Philippines, and ICLEI Global Executive
Committee Member, shared the importance of urban sustainability city networks inclimate justice work saying, “In Makati, we invite the community, households, the private
sector, and our NGOs to engage in our climate adaptation measures. We wouldn’t be able
to do this without the help of international organizations like ICLEI, UNDRR and GCoM.”

17

SPOTLIGHT ON YOUTH
Leaders expressed a desire to include youth in local climate action and sought
examples of this. Youth shared good practices on how to meaningfully engage
them locally and on further action needed to safeguard the future.
“We do not need to push young people into our agendas. We need to bepushed by the young people’s agenda and how they view the world to build
a safer future.” - Anuela Ristani, Deputy Mayor, City of Tirana, Albania
Xiomara Acevedo, Activist, Founder and C.E.O, Fundación Barranquilla+20, Colombia, shared how to engage youth through examples of
initiatives in Latin America, but also emphasized the actions thatneed to be taken to strengthen youth engagement. This includes
more flexible funding that responds to urgency of the moment andrecognizes the non-traditional benefits of working with the youth, likeconnections into the community and impact on local culture.
Chilando Chitangala, Mayor, City of Lusaka, Zambia, shared her
approach and philosophy on youth engagement saying “We use abottom up approach to understand what people really need. We work withyouth and children as we believe that nothing is for them without them.”
Ben Santhouse-James, Co-Lead, YOUNGO Renewable Energy Working
Group, noted Project Leo - Local Energy Oxford, one of the largest
participatory energy projects in the world, saying, “We’ve seen in thisrecent energy crisis that more people want to take control of their own
energy fate. We need more projects like that.”

18

SPOTLIGHT ON GENDER
Workshop: Partnering with vulnerable groups for inclusive local climate
investment prioritization and planning.
This workshop showcased examples of successful “People-Public Partnerships”,
including how investing in local solutions that address the needs of the mostdisproportionately affected by the climate emergency, can increase their accessto economic opportunities, better services and infrastructure, and reduce
inequalities through participatory, inclusive, and accountable urban governance.
“We need to shift the global climate architecture - the local communities, andespecially women and girls, need to have a say in investment’s decisions.”
Anwesha Tewary, Learning and Knowledge Management Specialist,
Huairou Commission. “The grassroots-led Community Resilience Fund,through the Huairou Commission, empowers women to make decisions on
which type of investments they want to pursue, strengthening their resilienceand helping forge partnerships with their local authorities, as well as, at the
global level.”@BONNGLOBAL WORKSHOP: FINANCING FEMALE DRIVEN CLIMATE ACTION
This workshop spotlighted three projects that empower women, break
down patriarchal systems historically found in financial institutions, andtackle the climate emergency through resilience-based projects.
Dennis Lucy Avilés Irahola, Senior Researcher, Center for Development
Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, summed up the disproportional
impact of climate change on women saying, “Women are more vulnerable
than men to malnutrition, livelihood loss, rising costs, water insecurity,mortality and losses due to floods and droughts. The exacerbation of existing
gender inequalities also affects women’s capacity to respond to extreme
climate events.”

19

Examples of Gender-Focused Climate Projects and Initiatives:

20•

Urban Natural Assets for Africa: The Resilience and Restoration for Life(UNA Resilience) project redirects the response to the climate emergency
by placing women at the center of governance, planning, and financing in
projects.

•

Zero Waste Project in La Paz, Bolivia works with women to provide dignity,
improve working conditions, and recycle waste.

•

Bhungroo©, a WECF-funded project in India, invests €6,000 to support 6-10
farming communities by training women to build and maintain rainwater
capture systems. These Women Climate Leaders are able to double theirharvest and income and are empowered to take part in their community
governance.

•

BMZ shared their feminist policy for sustainable development, adopted in 2022,
that aims to increase the total share of Official Development Assistance thatspecifically targets gender equity to 93% by 2025.

RESILIENCE AND ADAPTATION ARE TOP PRIORITIES FOR MANYLOCAL GOVERNMENTS WHERE UNPRECEDENTED CLIMATEIMPACTS ARE BEING FELT TODAY.
Carmen Vogt, Head of Section Cities, GIZ, on their recent insight brief on addressing
support gaps for sustainable urbanization in the NDC Partnership said, “We seemore and more countries addressing Disaster Risk Reduction issues and climate change
adaptation simultaneously - notably small island developing states.”

Delroy Williams, Mayor, City of Kingston, Jamaica, and ICLEI Mexico, Central America& Caribbean Regional Executive Committee Member: “Cities like Kingston feel huge
impacts of climate change, yet contribute relatively small carbon emissions. We believe an
equitable arrangement is necessary and must be geared towards low income cities.”

Cities, towns, and regions are encouraged to see if insurance solutions like Climate Insurance Linked
Resilient Infrastructure Finance (CILRIF) and Urban Infrastructure Insurance Facility (UIIF) that promote comprehensive, integrated and proactive approaches in lessening the socio-economic andenvironmental impact of climate disasters, would aid their resilience efforts.
The Federal City of Bonn shared how they’re well positioned to become an MCR Resilience Hub due
to the number of organizations working on climate located within the city and the recent experience
with nearby flooding disaster.
Grassroot groups raised that vulnerable communities are most in need of adaptation projects butthat special attention needs to be paid to ensure they don’t exacerbate inequality.

21

SESSION SPOTLIGHT: GLOBAL LEADERS ROUNDTABLE - INNOVATIVE
CLIMATE FINANCE FOR MULTILEVEL ACTION TOWARDS COP27
Gino Van Begin, Secretary General, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, in partnershipwith Katja Dörner, Mayor, City of Bonn, Germany, and Daring Cities 2022 co-host, invited leaders fora live-streamed round table discussion on innovative climate finance for multilevel action towards
COP27, which was hosted at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
headquarters in Bonn, Germany.
The session built upon the outcomes of the Glasgow Climate Pact adopted at COP26 with its explicit
reference to multi-level action, in connection to the preparations towards COP27.
This included the first-ever Climate and Urbanization Ministerial, and launch of SURGe,a Sustainable Cities initiative by the COP27 Presidency.

Watch therecording of
this roundtablediscussion.

22

The roundtable included:• Ingolf Dietrich, Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development, Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development (Bundesministerium fürwirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung) - BMZ,
Germany• Ovais Sarmad, Deputy Executive Secretary, UNFCCC• Ayman Tharwat Amin, Minister Plenipotentiary and Deputy
Director Department of Climate, Environment and Sustainable
Development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Egypt• Oliver Krischer, Minister for the Environment, Nature
Conservation and Transport, State of North Rhine-Westphalia,
Germany• Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven, Member of the Board, GIZ• Katja Dörner, Mayor, City of Bonn, Germany; ICLEI Global
Executive Committee Member, and Host of Daring Cities 2022
• Sharon Dijksma, Mayor, City of Utrecht, The Netherlands; ICLEISpecial Envoy for COP27 Ministerials• Abigail Binay, Mayor, City of Makati, Philippines, and ICLEI Global
Executive Committee Member• Gerry Muscat, European Investment Bank (EIB), Head of Division,
Urban Advisory• Gino Van Begin, Secretary General, ICLEI - Local Governments
for Sustainability

23

Key Conclusions on Multilevel Climate Finance:• Different cities in different contexts can and must act in different
ways to fund climate emergency initiatives. For example, the Federal
City of Bonn, despite good budgetary standing, must focus on its“mandatory obligations” before spending money on “voluntary efforts”
such as climate action. The challenge in Makati, the Philippines, isinstead not about what to finance, but how to finance it, as theynormally must take out a loan via a government bank. Accessing
international funding is very difficult and tedious for them, and many
local governments don’t even apply for a loan or a grant in international
markets because statistically, only 10% make it through.
• Ingolf Dietrich, Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment (Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit
und Entwicklung) - BMZ, Germany, shared the keys to financing for
cities and regions saying, “The collaboration of all levels of government
and the establishment of local regulation on providing finance isimportant. Sometimes cities cannot access international finance, so fiscal
decentralization to support them is also needed.”• Oliver Krischer, Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation andTransport, State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany spoke favorably
about bottom-up urban development advocacy saying, “We see that inGermany the power comes often from the local level towards the state andfederal level. And for me, it’s a form of support if the power comes from thebottom.”• Big financial institutions like the EIB are already lending directly to cities,
but only because they set up a financing framework, specifically to fillthat gap. Most of the time, there is still a gap between investors andcities.
• Gerry Muscat, Head of Division, Urban Development, EIB, spoke on how
Urban Framework loans enable EIB to fund a larger financing package,saying, “It’s difficult for us to directly finance small climate investments.
That’s why we created the Urban Framework Loan, through which we
can finance a slice of a city’s long-term investment program over 3-4
years.”• Reputation is a city’s main currency to attract investors. Showing fiscal
discipline, transparency, and in general a favorable environment to dobusiness will indeed help attract investors. Corruption and uncertainty
disincentivize any flow of money.
• National and local governments need strong institutions that have
proven experience working in a predictable and transparent way.
This creates an enabling environment, not only for local/national efforts,
but also for international investors to come in.

24

TOWARD UNFCCC COP27:
Ovais Sarmad, Deputy Executive Secretary, UNFCCC, emphasized the importanceof cities in achieving the climate goals stating, “Cities are at the center of addressing
climate change. There is no doubt about it. It is important that we pay attention to cities,
urbanization, and all that matters in the management of cities, their planning, theirfinances, and their climate efforts.”
Ayman Tharwat Amin, Minister Plenipotentiary and Deputy Director Departmentof Climate, Environment and Sustainable Development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Egypt, shared the Presidency’s vision for COP27 saying, “This is the implementationof COP. After five years of interpreting the Paris Agreement and producing its rulebook in
Glasgow, it’s now time to act through holistic and multilevel initiatives, including SURGeand the new Ministerial on Urbanization and Climate.”
Sharon Dijksma, Mayor, City of Utrecht, the Netherlands, and ICLEISpecial Envoy for COP27 Ministerials, commended the COP27 Presidency for
their focus on implementation at the local level through initiatives
like SURGe and the first Ministerial on Urbanization and Climate.
She launched an ICLEI/LGMA COP27 Call to Action to support these
initiatives and our shared mission to give multilevel action a central
position during COP27. “If successful, this will be the last COP where cities
are not formally recognized voices on the agenda”, she said.
Both Ambassador Amin and Mayor Dijskma recognized the importance of equity inthis critical moment in the climate negotiations. Minister Amin noted “The impactsof climate change are unevenly distributed and this issue of equity should be addressedin a just way, to ensure that there is a fair distribution of resources and training among
the cities. It is not only a matter of current cities to strengthen their social equity, but new
cities as well, so they can be built taking equity into consideration.” Additionally, Mayor
Dijksma, emphasized “A social agenda is needed, since the most vulnerable in the world
are not the first ones to receive the benefits of our policies.”
In the closing high-level dialogue of Daring Cities 2022, Susan Aitken, Leader,
Glasgow City Council, United Kingdom, acknowledged the impact of Daring Cities
saying, “Daring Cities has been a key staging post for Glasgow on our road to net-zero.
Over the past three years, it’s been a real opportunity for us, as the host of COP26, to refineand strengthen and give momentum to our shared message on the critical importance of
local climate action and encouraged cities, towns and regions to contribute to their nations
stocktake as Glasgow has been for the last 13 years. A local level stocktake that recognizes andquantifies climate action at the ground level, complementing the global stocktake, is going to
be an incredibly strong tool in our army. It helps to put us on that climate emergency footing
to highlight the actions and impact we’re having.”

25

DARING CITIES 2022 SIDE EVENT: COOPERATIVE CLIMATE ACTION –MUNICIPAL POLICIES FROM G7 TO COP27
This event supported the declaration and focused on
the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement.
The event aimed to demonstrate the potential ofcooperation between governmental levels andvarious groups of stakeholders and thus, shape amessage for the COP27 in November 2022.
The German Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development (BMZ), in cooperation
with the Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW) of Engagement Global (EG) and theDeutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, invited local decision
makers, practitioners from local governments, civil society, academia / think tanks, and policy
makers to participate in this exchange.

“We support Mayor Kadokawa of Kyoto City, Japan’s sentiment that we are in a crucial
phase to transform declaration to implementation, which means that local governments,
in strong cooperation with the national government need to create plans that meet local
characteristics.” Jochen Steinhilber, Directorate-General,
Displacement; Crisis Prevention; Civil Society, Federal Ministry
for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

DARING CITIES 2022 SIDE EVENT: SUMMARY OF URBANPOLICYMAKERS FOR IPCC 6TH ASSESSMENT REPORT- CLIMATECHANGE SCIENCE AT THE SERVICE OF CITY LEADERS
City and business representatives, partners and stakeholders engaged in the IPCC Summary
for Urban Policy Makers process, came together to discuss and reflect on their experiences
and on the key challenges they are facing in further science-based, informed policy making.
Cities and business representatives shared actions, solutions and measures that are being put
in place to tackle the most urgent issues of climate change in their localities, and how they are
engaging with their communities and local stakeholders to accelerate their ambitious climate
actions.
The Global Covenant of Mayors - in partnership with Resilience Shift, and incollaboration with their business network, the Indian Institute for Human
Settlements, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate
Action (BMWK) in collaboration with GIZ - supported the collection of input
and contributions to the Summary for Urban Policymakers (SUP) of the
IPCC 6th Assessment Report (AR6).

26

Read the Summary for
Urban Policymakersof the IPCC’s 6th
Assessment Report.

CORNERSTONE TWO

DISSEMINATE
27

Each October, those interested in sustainable urbanization from national and local
governments to universities, NGOs and communities are encouraged to hold or participate
in a multitude of activities around the globe as a part of Urban October. It is an opportunity
for everyone to be part of the conversation about the challenges and opportunities createdby the fast rate of change in our cities and towns and thus, offers a rich agenda in the urban
sustainability space.
The month began with World Habitat Day on 3 October 2022 (the first day of Daring Cities 2022),with a theme of Mind the Gap. Leave No One and Place Behind. Urban October ended with World
Cities Day on 31 October 2022, with the theme of Act Local to Go Global.
Urban October is a chance to bring the Daring Cities message to the world stage. From theInnovate4Cities conference to the G20, we are developing opportunities to connect the outcomesof Daring Cities to the rest of the world.
In 2022, ICLEI staff or leaders disseminated the outcomes, conclusions, and advocacy points
across ten events over three weeks.

28

LIST OF DARING CITIES 2022 CORNERSTONE TWO EVENTSDATEDESCRIPTION

TOPIC

11 October

EU Regions Week, Farm to Fork procurement for resilient food regions, by ICLEI andEuropean Committee of the Regions

Role of public procurement, food systems
and circular culture in addressing climate
emergency

12 October

European Committee of the Regions COP27
Plenary Debate

Position of CoR towards COP27

12 OctoberTime-to-Act Hydrogen Forum 2022

Tokyo Metropolitan Government contribution to COP27

11-12 October

Let’s Act on Loss & Damage, Edinburgh, UK

Scottish Government contribution to
COP27 agenda on Loss and Damage

13 October

UCLG World Congress, Daejon, Republic of
Korea

UCLG contribution to COP27 agenda
through Climate Emergency Plenaries andPact for the Future

18-20 October

C40 Mayors Summit, Buenos Aires,
Argentina

C40 contribution to COP27 agenda

19 October

LGMA COP27 Webinar

Final LGMA consultations before COP27

21 October

Finance Your Cities Conference, Abidjan,
Côte D’Ivoire by FMDVFMDV inputs to COP27 Agenda

31 OctoberWorld Cities Day

Final preparations for SURGe Initiativeand COP27 Climate and Urbanization
Ministerial

29

30

CORNERSTONE THREEADVOCATE

31

LGMA KEY ADVOCACY POINTS AT UNFCCC COP27
The voice of cities, towns and regions at the UNFCCC process is represented by the
Local Governments and Municipal Authorities(LGMA)Constituency where ICLEI acts
as the focal point. The LGMA inputs to UNFCCC COP27 were compiled and announced
at the press conference hosted by ICLEI and LGMA in the UNFCCC COP27 Blue Zone
on 6 November, 2022, on the first day of COP27.
The ICLEI/LGMA COP27 Call to Action, championed by Mayor Dijksma, that was
launched at the virtual forum, was presented with signatories from 50+ mayors,
representing major networks as well as 25+ non-state actors including youth,
subject matter experts, and multinational companies.

View the press
conference
recording.

“LGMA calls on UNFCCC Parties to acknowledge that multilevel action delivers the Paris
Agreement, building on the recognition of the multilevel and cooperative action in
the Glasgow Climate Pact and the transformative power of sustainable urbanization to
respond to climate emergency”, said Yunus Arikan, Director of Global Advocacy, ICLEIWorld Secretariat and Focal Point for LGMA.

Key asks to Parties at COP27 included:
1. Endorse the SURGe Initiative, a multilevel climate governance initiative, sponsored by the
COP27 Presidency and endorsed by 70+ organizations, focusing on five tracks: buildings
and housing, urban energy, urban waste/consumption, urban mobility, and urban water
2. Welcome the first-ever UNFCCC COP27 Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization andClimate Change
3. Mobilize Climate Emergency Finance to accelerate implementation of the Paris Agreement

SEE LIST OF ICLEI/LGMA COP27 CALL TO ACTION SIGNATORIES32

DARING CITIES AT THE LGMAMULTILEVEL ACTION PAVILION
The LGMA Multilevel Action Pavilion, the home for local andregional governments in the UNFCCC COP27 Blue Zone, hosted
over 55 sessions, featuring 400 speakers of rich programming andmeaningful dialogues, showcasing that #MultilevelActionDelivers
with support from over 45 organizations. Daring Cities waspresented as one of the partners to the COP27 Multilevel Action
Pavilion, pursuant to the vision that COP27 is part of Cornerstone
Three of Daring Cities 2022.

See the LGMA
Multilevel Action
Pavilion Daily
Mailings.

LGMA hosted a daily briefing that detailed the key points of theongoing COP27 negotiations, the issues that were discussed, andwhat it all meant for cities, towns and regions worldwide. The
briefings provided an opportunity to continue to raise the conclusions and advocacy points from Cornerstone Two of Daring Cities
2022 to the broader city, town, and region audience.

33

COP27 OUTCOMES
On the road to COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities(LGMA) constituency to the UN recalled its success from the year before to see “multilevel action”
enshrined in the Glasgow Climate Pact. This new era of the Paris Agreement was opened so that, at
COP27, our attention turned toward #MultilevelActionDelvers as a galvanizing intention. At its mostfundamental, our goal for COP27 centered on enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions in
the next phase of the Paris Agreement built through collaborations across all levels of government.

CLIMATE AND URBANIZATION MINISTERIAL
In a COP first—and embodying a decade-long vision in the making—the first-ever Climate and
Urbanization Ministerial was hosted by COP27 Presidency at the Solutions Day, supported by UNHabitat. The moment brought the climate and urban communities together at the minister-level forthe first time, with sentiments on its value, encapsulated in remarks delivered by Sharon Dijksma,
Mayor of Utrecht, Netherland, and COP27 Special Envoy for the LGMA: “This first-ever Ministerial Meetingon Urbanisation and Climate Change is a milestone in the history of COP. As far as I am concerned, we shouldhave taken this step much earlier because cities have a key role to play in combating climate change. Cities
are crucial in achieving the climate goals.”
Building on numerous endorsements from nations in both Global North and Global South, in a welcome
statement by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, multilateral developmentbanks offered very strong support to SURGe, upholding the spirit of COP27 that investments in locallevel climate action are needed at a large scale. Calling for the event to become an annual occurrence,
Libby Schaaf, Mayor of Oakland, California, said, “we respectfully request that you institutionalize thisjoint Ministerial dialogue and commit to hold it every year.”34

SURGe INITIATIVE
For the first time in the climate space, a new initiative opens the doors for the climate and urbanization
communities to come together to approach climate action in a holistic way. The COP27 Presidency
launched the Sustainable Urban Resilience for the Next Generation (SURGe) Initiative in collaboration
with UN-Habitat and facilitated by ICLEI with the objective to enhance and accelerate local and urban
climate action through multi-level governance, engagement, and delivery through five integrated
tracks. By COP27, more than 100 partners endorsed the initiative. Yet, to not only advance the initiative
through the COP Presidency or local governments, we aimed for SURGe to be owned and upheldby the parties. To this end, the United States, Japan, the Netherlands and others, offered supportive
remarks for SURGe during the Climate and Urbanization Ministerial.

GLOBAL STOCKTAKEAs the Paris Agreement celebrated its fifth year, moving into its next phase toward implementation,nations take stock of the agreement’s progress while defining a vision for the road ahead. Following
ICLEI’s successful advocacy during the June 2022 Bonn intersessional meetings, the UNFCCC
recognized that the Global Stocktake should include local-level contributions. Daring Cities 2022
officially opened this local exercise, calling for cities in more than 100 countries to host their own
stocktaking event in 2023, and releasing a standardized reporting form and toolkit. Under the bannerof #Stocktake4ClimateEmergency, local stocktakes will draw inspiration from 2018’s Talanoa Dialogues
to answer three questions—Where are we currently in reaching the goals of Paris (both nationally and in
local climate action plans)? Where do we need to go? How do we get there in a just and equitable way?—andultimately usher in an emergency mode for the Paris Agreement.

35

LOSS AND DAMAGE FUND
Following Scotland’s historic £2m pledge for a dedicated loss
and damage fund set out at last’s year’s COP26 in Glasgow, First
Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced an additional £5m funding
pledge to tackle loss and damage caused by the climate crisis indeveloping countries. The Scottish Government also released asummary report that captures critical insights on how principles
for addressing loss and damage can be developed and put into
practice called “Addressing Loss and Damage: Practical Action”.
Building off Scotland’s leadership, COP27 ended on 20 November,
2022 with a breakthrough agreement to provide “loss and damage”
funding for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters, alongwith a package of decisions. We warmly welcome that financing lossand-damage is finally being addressed in the UNFCCC process. We areparticularly proud that the political, technical and financial leadershipof subnational governments led by Scotland and Wallonia since COP26
played an instrumental role in breaking the taboos on loss and damage.
Our practical actions prove that loss-and-damage funding can be
distributed in a fair and equitable way; additional indebtedness can be
avoided and these good practices can be replicated by all interested.
Swift action also ensures that not just a mechanism is established,but that funds reach those most in need, particularly women.

Addressing Loss
and Damage:
Practical Action
Report36

CLIMATE EMERGENCY FINANCE ADVOCACY PAPER
ICLEI, in partnership with UNCDF, and FMDV, released a climate emergency finance paper, based on
outcomes from Cornerstone One: Exchange of Daring Cities 2022 to guide the climate emergency
finance agenda at COP27. The paper guided interventions of Mayor Binay during COP, as theInnovative Finance portfolio holder, and the session on subnational finance during COP. After the
event, the paper was promoted through newsletters and among the CCFLA and GcOM network.
The paper focuses on 3 main topics, which are considered as the key drivers for change towards climate
emergency finance: (i) role of subnational development banks, that can act as financial intermediaries;(ii) sustainable urbanization as a non-market approach in the UNFCCC Art6.8 negotiations, which
would enhance multilevel cooperation and scale climate action; and (iii) the importance of empowering
project finance/preparations facilities, such as Transformative Actions Program (TAP), by deploying
investments in their pipelines as a way to accelerate the access to technical assistance at the local level.
The paper provides an overview of the current challenges faced by local and regional governments
when facing a climate emergency and how this situation differs from a “business-as-usual” scenario
in terms of scale, focus, type of support, rapidness, and key actors. It details that one of the main
challenges we face is the immediate necessity for finance to flow to actions to tackle the climate
emergency and avoid catastrophe. Despite significant efforts that have been made to increase theavailability of funds, accessibility to finance remains a challenge for the subnational level – resulting ina growing finance gap, as the urgency of action also scales up.
Given the urgency to tackle climate hazards, the document advocates for finding innovative financemechanisms and invites different stakeholders such as national governments, subnational banks andthe private sector to support local and regional governments in overcoming the barriers and accessing
climate finance. The essentials of the paper was presented by Mayor Sefiani at the COP27 High level
Finance Ministerial on 15 November.

READ THE PAPER HERE.

37

ICLEI GLOBAL YOUTH STATEMENTAt the “Youth in Local Climate Action” day at COP27, ICLEI
marked this occasion with the launch event at the LGMA
Multilevel Action Pavilion. Mayor Erion Veliaj from Tirana andJuliet Oluoch from YOUNGO joined the session in person at
Sharm el Sheikh, sharing their insights and expressing theirsupport.
The vision statement is a result of a collaborative effort between
ICLEI colleagues from the regional offices, youth and some ofour member cities. The document provides asnapshot of the work done by ICLEI with youth,
outlines ICLEI’s position on the role of youth in the
climate emergency, and defines three main pillars
that will guide ICLEI’s effort in fostering youth
engagement in climate action going forward.

38

DARING LGMA LEADERS AT COP27
At COP27, the LGMA delegation consisted of more than 500+ representatives, including 150+
Mayors, Governors, Councilors and other local and subnational leaders. The voice of cities andregions carried much wider than the LGMA Multilevel Action Pavilion, through an estimated 2,000
collective interventions around the Blue Zone.

The LGMA opening statement delivered by Kobie
Brand, Deputy Secretary General, ICLEI - Local
Governments for Sustainability and Regional
Director, ICLEI Africa Secretariat, at the COP27
plenary called on UNFCCC Parties to mark COP27
as the beginning of the multilevel action era andto endorse the SURGe Initiative.

Yuriko Koike, Governor, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Japan, took part in the COP27 Presidency
Implementation Summit Roundtable on “Investing in the Future of Energy: Green Hydrogen” and thehigh level opening of COP27 Global Climate Action Agenda.
Kale Roberts from ICLEI US, Veronica Arias from CC35, Carlos De Freitas from FMDV, Yunus
Arikan from ICLEI as well as Manuel de Araujo, Mayor, Quelimane Municipality, Mozambique,represented the LGMA Constituency at the Global Stocktake Technical Dialogues, informing themthat sustainable urbanization and multilevel action are beacons-of-hope to drive global climate
action into “emergency mode”. The commitment for local and regional governments to convene
Stocktake4ClimateEmergency dialogues throughout 2023 was also necessary to create the muchneeded political momentum for Global Stocktake towards and at COP28 in Dubai in December 2023.
ICLEI and FMDV hosted the first ever Marrakech Partnership Breakthrough Lab with a focus on
subnational finance.

39

Yunus Arikan, Global Director of Advocacy, ICLEI, in his
LGMA focal point capacity, presented suggestions toadvance multilevel action at and beyond COP27 to Mr.
Simon Stiell, the new UNFCCC Executive Secretary.
Mohamed Sefiani, Mayor, Chefchaouen Municipality,
Morocco and ICLEI COP27 Special Envoy for Africa, spoke
on behalf of the LGMA at the 5th High Level Ministerial
Dialogue on Climate Finance.
Wavinya Ndeti, Governor of Machakos County, Kenya
delivered LGMA COP27 High Level Segment Statement
Minna Arve, Mayor of Turku, Finland, Manuel de Araujo,
Mayor of Quelimane, Mozambique, Anne Reynolds ,Mayor of Hobart, Australia, Mohamed Sefiani, Mayor of
Chefchaouen, Morocco joined the launch of the IPCC 6th
Assessment Report Summary for Urban Policy Makers(IPCC SUP) and its Action Agenda.
Erion Veliaj; Mayor of Tirana, Albania, European Youth
Capital 2022 addressed the YOUNGO COP27 Youth Day
event on behalf of the LGMA.
Travis County Commissioner, Dhaka North Mayor,
Lusaka Mayor and Frank Cownie as ICLEI President
contributed at the MPGCA Human Settlements event aswell as COP27 GCA High Level Closing.
LGMA delegation intervening at the first-ever COP27 Climate
and Urbanization Ministerial included:• Mohamed Sefiani, Mayor, Chefchaouen Municipality,
Morocco• Libby Schaaf, Mayor, City of Oakland, USA• Sharon Dijksma, Mayor, City of Utrecht, theNetherlands• Cintya Ribeiro, Mayor, Municipality of Palmas, Brazil• Atiqul Islam, Mayor, Dhaka North City Corporation,
Bangladesh
Katja Dörner, Mayor of the Federal City of Bonnaddressed the LGMA Global Townhall towards COP28 andunderlined the role that Daring Cities 2023 can play in theyear of Global Stocktake.
Mayor Sharon Dijksma of Utrecht, The Netherlands
and ICLEI Special Envoy for COP27 Ministerials andYunus Arikan, Director of Global Advocacy, ICLEI, joined
the dialogue of UN Secretary General with UNFCCC
Constituency Focal Points.
The LGMA COP27 closing statement was delivered byVincent Chauvet, Mayor, City of Autun, France andmember of the COP27 Delegation of the European
Committee of the Regions.

40

- INTERNAL USE ONLY -DARING CITIESCities
2022: IN THE NUMBERS
Daring2022: Att
Attendees*

1,743Countries

133

Cities706

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Registrations by day
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400

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100

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22: Attendees

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Attendees by organization type
Local & Regional
governments

4.9%
23%

5.9%

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institution
Civil Society & NGOs
Financial institution &other Private sector

19.2%

Intergovernmentalorganization
Local & regional
government association

22.6%

National government
Media

19.7%
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Attendees by ICLEI region
EuropeAfricaNorth America
Latin America & Caribbean
South Asia
Southeast Asia
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42

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THANKS TO OUR DARING CITIES 2022 PARTNERS

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