ICLEI Climate Manager Yunus Arikan spoke at a panel discussion on opportunities for international cooperation and mobilizing resources and support during the ADP workshop. Photo by ENB IISD.

ICLEI at Bonn Climate Talks

Time has come to engage local and subnational governments to raise level of ambition and accelerate action on climate change

As nations agree on a historical agenda to draft a new global climate regime, ICLEI´s interventions received global support and recognition.

After extensive negotiations, national governments finally adopted an agenda to negotiate a new global climate regime to be adopted by 2015 and entering into force in 2020. The agenda includes a separate workstream to discuss on ways to raise level of ambition to close the gap between growing GHG emissions worldwide and weak reduction pledges by countries.

ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability was the only local government network that submitted its views to the UNFCCC on this agenda item. ICLEI was also the only local government network that was invited by the UNFCCC Secretariat to present these proposals at the workshop that was held on 21 May 2012.

Underlining the fact that countries who are the front runners of climate action today are those that engage local and subnational governments effectively, Yunus Arikan ICLEI´s Cities Climate Center Manager, invited Parties to make a change in the climate negotiations by including the concept of “partnerships” in the new climate regime.

Further encouraging climate negotiators to follow the good practices in engaging cities in global processes on biodiversity and Rio+20, Yunus Arikan noted that local governments, through their innovative tools like the Mexico City Pact, carbonn Cities Climate Registry, Durban Adaptation Charter and Global Protocol   on Community GHG Emission, are ready to inspire and unite the world to raise level of ambition and accelerate action on climate change.

Throughout the workshop, a number of governments from both developed and developing countries, including EU, US, China, Marshall Islands highlighted the value and potential of local climate action in the global climate efforts. During the Question and Answer Session of the workshop, Jonathan Pershing, Deputy Special Envoy of the US Government also applaud efforts and proposals contained in the intervention of ICLEI and encouraged all governments to explore further opportunities through a more collaborative action with local and subnational governments.

Throughout the 2 weeks of UNFCCC Bonn Climate Conference, through side events, exhibits and official interventions, ICLEI launched the Global Protocol for Community Scale GHG Emissions, communicated the outcomes of the Resilient Cities Congress 2012 and presented the updates of carbonn Cities Climate Registry which compiles climate information of 164 cities from 21 countries as of May 2012.

Parties also integrated ICLEI´s proposals in the conclusions regarding engagement of observers in the high level segment of COP/CMPs. ICLEI further acknowledges the valuable efforts and summary of Chair of SBI35 from the consultations in Durban, which particularly underlines the value of roundtables with mayors that can create a sense of progress in implementation.

ICLEI sincerely hopes that progress in Bonn can be considered by Parties as building blocks of implementation of Decision1/CP16 para.7 which recognizes local and subnational governments as governmental stakeholders of global climate regime.

Read Yunus Arikan's speech at the ADP workshop. View the webcast.

Visit  Local Government Climate Roadmap for updates on global advocacy of local governments.