COP29 didn't deliver; it's time to look beyond nation states

Mark Watts is the executive director of C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a global network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities that are united in action to confront the climate crisis

Despite the underwhelming outcomes from the COP29 climate talks in Baku, multilateralism remains the most critical tool we have for addressing climate breakdown.

The Paris Agreement to limit global warming was a tremendous achievement, and, as we enter its 10th anniversary year, we must redouble our efforts to achieve its goals.

Doing so will require fresh impetus and new thinking - something cities, regions and states are eager to provide.

As Laurence Tubiana, one of the main architects of the Paris Agreement, recently argued: “effective multilateralism must include more than just nation states”.

That is necessary if future COPs are to “shift from negotiation to implementation”, as called for by the Club of Rome think tank, whose members include political and business figures and scientists, in an open letter to U.N. leaders.

The fastest and most effective way to kick-start such a transformation would be to put leaders of cities, regions, states and provinces at the forefront of future climate talks.

On the frontline of the climate crisis, mayors and other local leaders are accepting accountability, showing collaborative leadership and delivering tangible action - qualities that have been woefully missing from recent COP negotiations.

Let’s be very clear – leaders of cities, regions and states are not seeking to participate in the formal COP negotiations, but instead provide impetus to others by demonstrating how the delivery of science-based and fair climate action is already being achieved.

For example, COPs could begin with a report back on the progress made on climate action by cities in the previous 12 months, setting out what they will commit to do in the next year and inviting partnerships to aid delivery.

Over time, this could set a precedent for national governments to follow, as well as businesses, investors, trade unions and others. This would go some way to deliver the Club of Rome’s call for “solutions driven meetings where countries (all order of governments) report on progress, are held accountable in line with the latest science, and discuss important solutions for finance, technology and equity”.

This would help re-centre COPs around U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres’ call for every nation to publish and implement a climate action plan based on the science of constraining global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius; reducing fossil fuel production by a third by 2030, and reporting regularly on progress.

Delivering on the ground

Returning from Baku it is hard to believe that any of those critical goals could be achieved exclusively through continuing negotiations between 195 national governments.
But Guterres’ goals have already been adopted at the sub-national governmental level. Eighty-eight of the 96 members of the C40 group of the world’s largest and most influential cities are already delivering climate action plans consistent with the Paris Agreement.

And they are going even further. Meeting in Rio ahead of the G20, C40’s mayors agreed to adopt the U.N.’s new ‘Integrity Matters’ standards of reporting, and to require member cities to introduce ‘climate budgets’ in the next five years - effectively marrying their annual financial budget processes to delivery of their annual carbon reduction, resilience and equity targets.

Mayors are delivering on the ground now and they are doing so with innovative approaches that prioritise inclusion, putting just transition plans, support to low-income groups, workforce development, inequality and poverty reduction at the centre of their climate policies.

All of this matters because over half of humanity lives in cities and that’s where three-quarters of carbon emissions are generated.

This is not a proposal for mayors to govern everything. There isn’t a route to stopping climate breakdown that doesn’t involve national governments demonstrating commitment. But it is an offer from local leaders to presidents and prime ministers to help break the logjam and move everyone from 30 years of COP discussions about ambition to action and implementation.

That model is being supported - not just by local governments but by national governments too. At COP28 in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates led 70+ countries in agreeing to work more closely with local and provincial governments as they prepare their new national climate targets, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), that are due in 2025.

This Coalition for High Ambition Multi-Level Partnerships (CHAMP) has been gathering pace ever since. The United Kingdom is the latest government to sign up and Brazil, which hosts COP30 next year, has put CHAMP and ‘climate federalism’ at the heart of its newly updated NDC. Under the leadership of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva there is a very real chance that COP30 in Brazil could define a new, more successful, action-oriented climate multilateralism.

The disappointing outcome of COP29 and the likely withdrawal (again) of the U.S. federal government from the Paris Agreement are difficult to stomach but now is not the time for despondency. Indeed, out of the failures in Baku it is clear to see that an effective delivery-driven form of multilateralism is possible.