This is a transcription from the latest Transformers episode. Transformers talk about role of cities and regions in the climate negotiations at COP Talking to Yunus Arikan, Director of Global Advocacy, ICLEI World Secretariat, Focal Point of the LGMA Constituency to the UNFCCC.
Kaj Embrén: Welcome to Transformers, the podcast about how business people and policymakers are creating a sustainable future. I’m your host, Kaj Embren.
Kaj Embrén: Time passing very fast, and we were in December and you were very busy in Dubai. And I think one of the main points for our talk today will be connected to the COP28 meeting in Dubai. It’s a lot of different types of questions, but I think we should start, this talk, around the role of cities and regions and also that you can reflect on the outcome. And then for us who have been talking about this type of issue since at least, Paris, 2015, about the role of cities and when I had a role, working with the Nordic Mayors, the question of course has been, do COP meetings have a platform in this type of negotiation on a global, scale, what has happened under this year? But if you start with the outcome of COP28 in 2023, the main points.
Yunus Arikan: As we all know, this is an annual meeting of the ministries responsible from the climate agenda that’s called conference of parties (COP). The decisions are throughout the year negotiated by the technical bureaucrats, and at the end of the year it is finally adopted by ministers. And since the climate agenda has elevated so high on the agenda of all the nations and the global sustainable agenda, it is becoming almost a fashion that even heads of states are now part of the discussion. And that’s also of course a legacy. From 2009 onwards, the heads of state are mainly invited to these processes to provide basic guidance and the final decisions are adopted by the climate ministers. So if we look at those outcomes, obviously it was a difficult, challenge. There were huge expectation. First of all, this was seven years after The Paris agreement first adopted. And this was the year to review the progress, what has been achieved and what not. Second, it was the year where the Loss and Damage negotiations, would be concluded. It was more than 30 years since the Small islands and other vulnerable countries were demanding for this. And 2023 was the year where it was especially important because there was a huge discussion on phase out fossil fuel phase out. It was in the country which was one of those oil producing and exporting countries. So there were huge questions how this hosting would influence the outcome. If we look at all these agendas from a cities and regions perspective, ICLEI and the rest of other networks, this has become one, of our most successful COP ever, once again, in the history of the negotiations. Why? It was a remarkable year because throughout, this year, already on the way to the COP28, we have been engaged in so many processes. We were building upon our achievements of the last years, especially from Glasgow, the term multi level action was crafted. And in March, we had the first ever climate and urban ministers meeting. And there was this initiative of surge, which was for the first time addressing urban action and climate action throughout the year. From Africa, from Latin America, from the G7 and the EU. At every discussion, there was a huge recognition of multilevel action. So we were expecting this year will be good, for us, and as well as we also have been involved in the Local Stock Takes. So there was a huge momentum. But the thing that really made a change was the, positive support from the presidency, Sultan al Jaber, and the partnership he has developed with Michael Bloomberg. so that helped us, gave us a huge support. throughout the two weeks, local, engineering rooms were actively involved, first by the local action summit. Then we had the second ministerial, and throughout the two weeks, we had our urbanization and, multi level action, urbanization prevalent.
The emirates consensus calls for multilevel climate action by 2025
In concrete terms, if we conclude this first round, concrete outcomes. So there is an emirates consensus. It consists of several packets of decisions, five different decisions. First one is the Loss and Damage fund. And this is particularly important because there are three references in this Loss and Damage fund, which is referring to direct subnational access (local and regional gov), which is, solved many years of our, request to have a direct access to global climate funds. So that is available in the Loss and Damage fund. In the Stock Take decision, we have paragraph 161, which urges national governments for multilevel action. And there are several other paragraphs involved in this process. In the Stock Take decision, which is very important for us, there’s an adaptation decision, which again, foresees role for local governments for multi level adaptation actions. There are five paragraphs on that and one, important process. Emirates presidency in 2023 and Brazilian presidency 2025, and in between, Azerbaijan 2024, they have agreed to launch a roadmap to 1.5 degree decision. And the announcement that came from the summit, which is a coalition of national governments for multilevel NDCs, to be presented by 2025. This initiative is significantly different from all the previous initiatives in the past, because it is a commitment of not just cities, but it is a commitment of nations to bring new climate, national climate plans in collaboration with cities and regions, both in the planning and in their implementation. So that’s a complete new era for global and national and local climate action.
Kaj Embrén: So how can cities follow up this, type of advanced step, that you took in Dubai.
Yunus Arikan: The era of multi level action has arrived, both in the climate process, but also national, domestic processes. From the north to south, from big nations to small and states. There’s every nation having a vision for collaborative work at the national and local level. So the first message is that every Mayor, every Environment manager or Environment Mayor or every Council of their cities should ask their national governments, primarily Minister of Environment, but other ministers as well. There are particularly 70 countries which have signed this champion initiative that is much more strong for us because they have committed more active actions. But the paragraph 161 of the Stock Take decision of the Emirate consensus is a binding for every nation. So every city can go to their National Minister of Environment and ask. The paragraph 161 says, you are invited to work through multilevel action. What is your vision to do that? So that is most important thing. Second, obviously, these also give a new momentum for our local, regional climate plans. And in that sense, we have been kicking off this area of town hall COPs. So that, preparation of new generation of climate plans to be more ambitious, to be much more addressing all the needs of the society and to benefit from national and global resources. In order to claim this, we are inviting every local government or regional government to dedicate at least half a day or one day in a year before COP dedicated to global climate issues and national, climate ambitions, so that then we can report these results to the UN climate process every year. these are the main avenues we can ask them to be connected. the key message is that, we are building a new civilization. Emirates COP, Dubai COP was really a turning moment. We have to work at home and this year is also very difficult. You have European parliament elections. There is elections in the US and so many other countries. So, decisions in COPss are not guaranteed for implementation if we do not embrace and take ownership at the local and national level. That’s why every local leader, every subnational leader should be alerted and should embrace these outcomes and bring this back to life in their own council decisions. But with their relation with their national governments.
Kaj Embrén: The local government will play a more important role to drive the change, in the implementation of, the policies.
Yunus Arikan: Definitely. So, let’s remember, I mean, we can come back to this Paris agreement. When Paris Agreement was adopted, the national plans that were presented for Paris agreement, none of them were aware of the Paris agreement visions like 1.5 degree or climate neutrality. And none of them were prepared with consultation with us. So, that is different. Starting from Dubai, they had a mandate to ask us in the preparation of these national plans. So that is a different context compared to seven years ago.
Paris climate agreement mandates national governments to increase climate ambition every year
Kaj Embrén: Can you, maybe for the listener also to understand, the names that we are talking about here? You mentioned Global Stock Take and, NDCs. Can you explain what that stands for, where it comes from?
Yunus Arikan: So, Paris agreement, when it was adopted in 2015, it was really a bottom up spirit, because in the Kyoto Protocol, there was a certain enforcement or compliance mechanism by the UN. Let’s remember, Kyoto Protocol was only for developed countries. The Global South did not have any role or any responsibility for emission reductions. The Paris agreement says that all of us will contribute both climate neutrality and compatible with 1.5 degree goals, but all of them will have different starting point. And therefore, it is much more, a recommendation for national governments that they have the responsibility to elevate every year their climate ambition. But it also had the risk that they may backtrack. And we have seen this in the case of us, in the case of Brazil, those governments who came after their elections said that, no, no, I don’t believe in the Paris agreement goals. I make it much more weak. So the opportunity to be more flexible has, two sides. It can be elevated easier, but it can be downscaled easier as well. So the logic of Stock Take was that this, climate plans, which was more or less five years time frame, that every five years, by the end of the first period, there should be a lessons learned exercise so that this can guide us for the preparation of the next plants. So as of today, all the climate plans depend on the commitments that were announced by 2014 15 or 16. And obviously they are not enough. the climate goals are far away, around three degrees now. So they have to be more ambitious in order to make this more ambitious. this discussion at the national and local level has to take place. And this has been taken in this sense in the last two years. There was a global dialogue. We had local dialogues. So now it’s time to digest all these discussions and bring new elements. And one of the really, the good news from Dubai is that the climate commitments are, not just Mitigation and Adaptation. We have discussions on Food, we have discussions on Biodiversity, we have a huge discussion on justice. We have a huge discussion on Juste Transition. These were not the topics that were on the table in parts, because the climate agenda has become much more strong and real. These kind of issues has to be considered. This is the success of the climate and sustainable community. This means the national and local plans should be improved. They should take into account these kind of, issues that are the root cause for our climate emergency mode of action. And by benefiting from the announcements coming from Dubai and previous years, we can make our climate plans much more robust and we can make this much more connected to the people on the streets, people in our neighborhoods, so that they can also enjoy the benefit of transition to a low carbon and climate resident economy.
Kaj Embrén: When you look at the deliveries in this sense of the five years planned, everyone delivering what they should?
Yunus Arikan: We are much better than what we have been in Paris in 2015. Let’s remember, during the past couple of years, the fact that Paris agreement plans have created a huge momentum and we even have made progress. For example, we have seen the example of the United States, we have seen the example of Japan, Dominican Republic, Rwanda. We have counted around 60 countries who have brought new climate plans. When they consulted with their local and regional governments, they have elevated their national ambitions. It was less than a handful of cities who were, committing to climate neutrality. Now we have thousands of them. So definitely there is a huge progress. But compared to the scale of the urgency, compared of the scale of the changes that we have to see in our economies, we are far below the level required. But this process that Stock Take and this kind of global conferences is giving us the power, the mandate, the evidence and the new tools to make our, commitments much more robust and more importantly, as you said, much more deliverable. That’s why we are so confident that bringing urbanization and climate agenda hand in hand. This is what we achieved over these three years. UN Habitat has a much better understanding of, climate agendas. Climate ministers are much more in touch with urban ministers. They are much more talking with their cities and regions. This is giving us the confidence the new plans will be better than the past. And this gives us the confidence to our communities that they should be engaged in designing these plans and more importantly, implement. We are seeing everywhere there are even societal resistance. We have seen in this yellow jackets issues. We have seen this in now seeing in the agriculture, reformed in Germany. We are seeing it in other countries. Communities are not always fully behind the climate goals. Therefore, we, local actors can be helpful for national governments and the global climate community to bridge the citizens and the climate plan, so that we can talk the same language and we can act together and we can share the benefits together.
Kaj Embren: So, when you reflect on your own organization like ICLEI how will ICLEI act to meet the demands on deliveries, local governments and regions?
Yunus Arikan: Definitely. So we are, as you are aware, ICLEI is a global network of more than 2500 town cities and regions. Obviously, we are talking about hundreds of thousands of cities and regions across the world. ICLEI cannot claim to be acting on behalf of all of others. But we have other network, we have other processes, so that we are on the front runner of this debate on climate and sustainability. So what will be our two years plan? So we have a two years vision from Dubai. We are aiming for Belem, Brazil in 2025. Brazil, is also important country because this year, in 2024, they will be the G 20 presidency. And next year they will host the COP. This year we will also have a huge discussion with Egypt because we will have the World Urban Forum in Cairo this year. But Azerbaijan, which will be the host of, this year’s climate talks, will also host the World Urban Forum in 2026. So Egypt, Emirates, Azerbaijan, Brazil, as well as European Union, the G 7 countries, we are collectively working that it is a two years process. Now, in this two years process, ICLEIs first kickoff will be in June in Sao Paulo, city of Sao Paulo. We will have our three years road congress. This will be the announcement of our roadmap from Sao Paulo to BELEM The City of Belem is a member of ICLEI. They are the chair of the Brazilian Amazonian Forum of Cities. So that this will give us the huge opportunity that these 70 countries who have signed up to this initiative to champ. These are the 70 countries who have committed to work with their local environment actors for the new NDCs. We will make sure that ICLEI and ICLEI members will approach those who are on the front line of these 70 countries, that we bring new results already by the December, November 2024 to Baku (Azerbaijan). And that gives example to others, so that they follow the suit. But in addition to our work with the national government, ICLEI will also call all the cities around the world, all the regions around the world, to transform their Town Halls into mini COPs. That every year, many, town halls of the world cities will have the debate of climate, global climate justice and climate transformation. So that the local entrepreneurs, the local, artisans, the local farmers, the local, economy, partners and indigenous people, urban poor can all be part of this debate. And then we inform the nations that, look, we are connecting the climate goals to the roots, the grassroots. But we’re also trying to make sure you address local leaders and local governments in your funds, in your capacity, building and in your financing mechanism. So that will be the journey we will follow. and in that sense, that.
Kaj Embrén: Seems to be that you turn the COP meeting around from top down to bottom up.
Yunus Arikan: It exactly has to be like that. As you have rightly said, we are changing the narrative. It’s not anymore that, everyone waits, for the Ministers of Environment to solve the environmental crisis. No, this is a crisis that the solution lies in our hands. The solution lies in how fast we build our new cities or how fast we renovate our existing cities. This is a solution.
How fast we change our daily habits, how fast it’s not anymore. Phase out of fossil fuels by oil producing countries only. It is how fast communities stop demanding use of fossil fuels. How fast we shift away from using our, oil dependent, internal combustion engines. Or how fast we shift our, consumption habits so we don’t have to transport, goods across the world just for the sake of our daily needs, but more being locally responsible, but also locally conscious.
Kaj Embrén: Do we have, the leadership in place to deliver?
Yunus Arikan: Definitely. I think leadership, especially in these difficult times, is a creation that is very familiar at the local level. The local leaders and subnational leaders are the best examples of innovation. And that’s what we have seen in the COVID period. That’s what we have seen in the difficult times of, social destructions. Social movements that trusted leaders can channel the tensions in their societies to the good, to the better dialogues. So, at the local level, I think we have to be supporting those leaders who are committing to those climate actions. And we also have to bring into those mayor’s offices, governor offices, for those leaders who are ready to take such commitments. And the councilors, the communities, the directors of our, urban fleets, the director of our urban, energy providers. We have to address all of them. To be aware of these new developments, to be aware of these new technologies, and to be aware of these new partnerships so that they can bring solutions back to the citizens as quick as possible. And then we can inform the national leaders, and we can ask national leaders to bring this, onto the table as well. Once again, these are the years ahead with full of opportunities for political challenges. We are aware many of the elections are not driven by climate concerns, but other concerns. But we have to make benefit of every opportunity.
Kaj Embrén: Great. Yunus thank you for your insight, from Dubai, but also a reflection on what has happened earlier year. And now, in the front seat of the deliveries is the cities, regions, and to talk, with the national government to deliver the national plans. So, thank you, Yunus, and, It was great to have you in Transformers today and, hope to keep this dialogue on, because I think the dialogue is necessary and also to follow up by deliveries in the local level.
Yunus Arikan: Thank you, Kaj
Kaj Embrén: Thank you so much, Yunus
Kaj Embrén: I’m Kaj Embren. Follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn, where I will be announcing the future guests to this podcast. And you can expect about two programs a month, and each guest has a unique story of making business and society sustainable. So find out more, visit my homepage, kajembren.org Thank you for listening.