‘Front line’ of climate change, mayors and governors gain prominence and claim space at COP30

• COP 30: Due to her efforts on environmental issues, the Queen of Denmark visited a chocolate factory in Belem
• video: Minister Celso Sabino recorded with Kurubira in an animal costume show that went viral on the networks

On Monday (10), the Climate Commitments Document was delivered with 14 thousand signatures from mayors and governors of cities and states from different countries to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, in a call to convene a “Conference of the Parties for Implementation”.

In his opening remarks, the President of the Conference, André Correa do Lago, dedicated a special greeting to the governors and mayors present:

— The presence of governors and mayors is extremely important, because subnational entities play a very essential role in implementing COP decisions.

When contacted, COP30 did not report the number of mayors and governors present in Belém, but participants confirm that this representation has increased significantly. The second largest delegation of mayors, after Brazil, comes from the United States, where it includes more than 50 municipal directors, which indicates the country’s presence in the discussions, even without President Donald Trump.

For Mark Watts, executive director of C40 Cities, a global network of mayors from the world’s largest cities, who has led this campaign, the COP president’s speech sets the tone for how space will be achieved. For the first time, there was a large formal meeting of local leaders in the presence of the Presidency of the COP, the United Nations and large global companies.

– Mayors are the implementers. As we move from negotiations to implementation, mayors must be the first to act, because they are the ones who manage the services that generate emissions – Watts highlights that the agenda of subnational governments is concrete. – We did not come to Brazil to talk about promises for ten or twenty years from now, but rather to make an “annual commitment to action”, with concrete steps to be taken in the next twelve months. Our contribution is to shift the focus from endless negotiations to real action in the present.

Among the 40 cities’ annual commitments cited by Watts are the creation of a low-emissions zone to improve air quality in Rio, the construction of a wind farm enough to supply 900,000 homes in Tokyo, and a London project that reduced pollutants in the air by 60% by introducing a fee for the use of private cars. Now the English capital aims to clean the rivers.

In addition to measures to reduce emissions, Andy Deacon, Executive Director of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM), noted that mayors are the first to address climate disasters, in emergency relief measures.

– Most importantly, they are the first to develop plans to make cities more resilient. He pointed out that they are literally on the front line.

The weight of this agenda at the COP became clear last week, in Rio de Janeiro, when the C40 Global Mayors Summit 2025, part of the Local Leaders Forum organized by the COP30 Presidency and Bloomberg Philanthropies, brought together nearly 300 local leaders from five continents. The document delivered to António Guterres was prepared there, which also declared that the climate fight depends on the efforts of cities.

The document’s demands were divided into three main axes: formal recognition of cities and subnational governments as full partners; Create a space within the process, where mayors and governors are integrated into energy transition and emissions reduction goals; and access to more public and private resources for local actions, as climate financing typically only reaches federal governments.

Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, Yvonne Aki Sawyer, who is also co-chair of C40, said COP30 is the best chance in a decade to achieve progress on climate, but the challenges are great.

—Our cities are growing. By 2050, Africa’s urban population will double, and these are young cities: an estimated 60% of people living in cities will be under 18 by 2030. These young people deserve to live in clean, safe and prosperous cities, and this will only be possible if our generation acts now. To do this, we need support, including access to funding and recognition at the highest levels, starting at COP30.

Although it is a poor city, Freetown has an urban reforestation program that is considered advanced. In recent months, international coalitions of cities, such as C40 and GCoM, have come together with multilateral development banks on a mission to raise more resources for climate change adaptation and resilience work.

COP30 also strengthened cooperation between municipalities. On Saturday (8), the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, and the Mayor of Belém, Igor Normandeau (MDB), signed a cooperation agreement, with the support of the Global Commission of Mayors, focusing on urban regeneration and afforestation projects.

Network Against Climate Denial

There is still a strong network helping to combat climate misinformation, as Mark Watts highlights:

Polluted sectors react strongly, trying to confuse the population and spread disinformation. But when mayors come together and share experiences, they gain the confidence needed to confront these campaigns.

Within the local agenda, empowering cities and states on the climate agenda is part of the Climate Plan, launched by the Ministry of the Environment, which recognizes “climate federalism” as an essential part of Brazil’s NDCs, explains Walter De Simone, Director of Climate Policy, Institutions and Law at iCS.

—This recognition was indeed a first step. Now Brazil needs to build a system of governance that leads to cooperation between state programs already in place. States and municipalities are essential to increase ambition. He stated that this role was increasing, and now subnational governments were here to stay.

In addition to local actions, regional associations are another important item on the agenda. For example, the National Bank for Social Development encourages the creation of inter-municipal consortia and network infrastructure to finance projects. The Brazil-North-East Ecological Transformation Plan (PTE-NE) was officially launched on Tuesday (11) at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), which includes measures to boost the green economy in the region, an unprecedented project that combines sustainable development, innovation and social inclusion.

Rafael Fonteles, Governor of Piaui State, defended the regional reduction in climate financing.

— Plans tend to be sectoral, but over time, more developed and wealthier regions typically have greater capacity to benefit from financing. Therefore, we pushed hard for a specific credit call for the North-East – explained the Governor, at a panel in the Green Zone, adding that the North-East states only had access to 9.9% of the national productive credit last year, despite representing 14% of the GDP and 23% of the population.