Regional governments will attend COP27 in Egypt to assert their key role in responding to the climate crisis
The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), which takes place from 6 to 18 November in Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt), will bring together more than 200 countries and thousands of other national and subnational actors. It will be a very action-oriented summit, with a focus on resilience and adaptation. Loss and damage is also on the main agenda, as well as scaling up climate finance (the two key themes of this COP27), which is becoming more widespread due to the current pace of emergencies and their daily impacts around the world. African regions will be particularly represented at this COP, which is being held in Africa.
Multi-level action is needed to curb climate change. The preamble of the Paris Agreement already recognises that all levels of government are key to ensuring a future below the 1.5°C increase. That is why some 30 sub-national governments will be present in Egypt, where they will represent the voice of the regions, share solutions and report on their actions for adaptation and resilience, in particular the Race to Resilience campaign.
This is a delegation from Regions4, a pioneering international network of regional governments that seeks to empower and position them as the actors that can most directly act on the challenge of climate change. In fact, it is the regions that lead up to 75% of mitigation measures and up to 90% of adaptation measures to climate change, according to the European Committee of the Regions.
Alongside Regions4 Secretary General Natalia Uribe and Global Manager for Climate Promotion and Programmes Heloise Chicou, there will be representatives from 26 regional governments: Rabat Salé Kénitra (Morocco, which hosted the pre-COP27 Regions4 meeting in June), Auvergne Rhone Alpes (France), Lombardy (Italy), Navarra, Catalonia and Euskadi (Spain), Flanders (Belgium), Scotland and Wales (UK), Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná and Minas Gerais (Brazil), CONGOPE-Ecuador, Baja California, Jalisco, Yucatan and Guanajuato (Mexico), Louga and Gossas (Senegal), Cross River State (Nigeria), Kwazulu (South Africa), Kenya - Council of Governors, Quebec (Canada), South Australia and the United Regions Organisation Oru-Fogar.
Regions4, an accredited observer organisation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), aims to raise the level of multi-level governance and regional governments' progress towards resilience. In this line, Regions4 will participate and organise several events during COP27.
In addition to sharing innovative solutions that are already being implemented and can be scaled up, Regions4 will showcase how its flagship initiative, RegionsAdapt, can help regional governments scale up their adaptation and resilience ambitions.
A theme each day
The first and main event, open to the media, will take place on 10 November, when resilience will be one of the themes to be addressed at the COP: "A spotlight on states and regions contributions to the Global Stocktake - 'getting it done'". The main objective will be to find solutions to overcome institutional barriers that prevent regional actors from being recognised as key drivers for the achievement of the Global Adaptation Goal and the Global Stocktake. In addition, the focus will be on the importance of including regional governments in decision-making, implementation and monitoring of adaptation and climate resilience strategies.
At this event Regions4 will present the "Regional Governments' Declaration for COP27", which emerged from the regions' preparatory event for COP27 that took place in June in Rabat, Morocco. Following input received and signature by some 20 regions around the world, the declaration will be taken to the global summit.