Johannesburg, South Africa – Hon. Velenkosini Fiki Hlabisa, Minister of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), has pledged to put the voices of urban residents, particularly African voices, at the heart of the G20 discussions when they take place in South Africa for the first time later this year.
- Minister of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) announces support of U20 Communique on behalf of South African G20 Presidency.
- Communique pushes for formalised multi-level collaboration, including on climate strategies and just transition plans.
- Cities taunted as leaders of a renewed, people-centred multilateralism.
Representing the South African G20 Presidency, Hon. Minister Hlabisa and G20 Sherpa received the Urban 20 (U20) communique from Executive Mayor Morero of Johannesburg, U20 2025 Co-Chair, at the conclusion of this year’s summit.
The Urban 20 brings together more than 30 city leaders from around the world and is one of the key platforms for influencing and informing the G20 summit of world leaders.
Cities, which are home to over 55% of the global population, are on the frontlines of the climate crisis, whilst also bearing the greatest impacts of intensifying global conflicts and instability. Cities are the key actors delivering necessary change at speed and scale, and translating global ambitions on climate into lived realities.
Following three days of talks in Johannesburg, the 2025 U20 Communiqué outlines a clear agenda for enhanced multilevel cooperation and renewed global collaboration with cities at its core. The communique calls on G20 governments to:
- Create formal processes for cities to contribute to global decision-making and climate planning. This includes collaboration on national strategies for sustainable development, just transition plans, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).
- Recognise the critical priorities for urban policy, from ensuring equitable access to affordable housing and strengthening local economic development, to promoting an inclusive approach to human mobility and strengthening labour protections, particularly for workers affected by the energy transition.
- Improve access to predictable, direct, and affordable funding for cities to bridge the urban finance gap and to deliver a city-inclusive just transition finance plan. This includes scaling up global public investment to at least $800 billion annually for urban mitigation and adaptation projects through 2030 and ensuring that public development banks prioritise urban needs.
This summit was co-hosted by Johannesburg and Tshwane and convened by C40 Cities and the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). It followed the U20 Sherpa Meeting in Tshwane in June 2025, where nearly 30 cities from G20 countries around the world collectively discussed their joint priorities for the policy recommendations to the G20.
The U20 platform is a vital initiative for strengthening multilevel cooperation on global challenges and amplifying the voice of cities leading the charge on a just transition. The momentum generated by this summit builds a powerful foundation for meaningful action ahead of COP30 events in Brazil later this year, including the 2025 C40 World Mayors Summit in Rio. The summit will kick off the Local Leaders Forum, co-hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the COP30 Presidency, placing subnational voices at the centre of the COP30 process and elevating bold, scalable climate solutions from global mayors and subnational leaders.
Hon. Velenkosini Fiki Hlabisa, Minister of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), said:
“The urban 20 outcomes are not an external imposition; they are a reflection of our own local priorities, refined and reinforced on the global stage. I receive the communique, not just as a piece of paper or a document, but as the embodiment of the aspirations of the economic hubs of the G20 countries. The message of the U20 2025 communique is clear: cities want to be co-authors and South Africa will lead the advocacy of the communique to the G20 and amongst the heads of state.”
Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Dada Morero, said:
“Johannesburg has always been a city of bold solutions, of courage in the face of challenges. And what we have witnessed here is exactly that spirit: cities coming together, not as bystanders to global challenges, but as drivers of real, practical change.
The U20 Communiqué we have developed is more than words on a page. It is our collective voice. It is a statement that cities are not waiting for permission; we are partners, innovators, and essential actors in shaping a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient future. The Communiqué carries the weight of our shared experience, our ideas, and our commitment to leave no city, no community, behind.”
Executive Mayor of Tshwane, Nasiphi Moya, said:
“The communiqué we have presented to the G20 is a blueprint for action, demanding the three pillars essential for cities like ours to succeed: genuine multilevel governance, strengthened multilateral cooperation, and most critically, the financial empowerment to deliver on climate action, affordable housing, and quality public services.
From this summit in Johannesburg to COP30 in Belém, the City of Tshwane will be a relentless advocate. We are not merely participants in the global sustainability agenda; we are on the front lines, implementing it. We are ready to work with our fellow cities, national governments, and global partners to turn the resolutions of this summit into tangible progress for our people.”
Mayor of Freetown and Co-Chair of C40 Cities, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, said:
The U20 summit hasn’t been a talking show: every single one of the priorities that have been listed in the U20 Communiqué speaks to the specific issues that our residents face, that citizens around the world face. It reinforces our positions as cities, gives direction, and provides central governments with an opportunity to incorporate into their agendas more clearly the work that our cities are doing.
As C40 Cities, we are committed to ensuring that this communique continues to be amplified because what it contains is what the world needs in order for us to strengthen multilateralism and show that we are renewing our global collaboration in addressing pressing issues.
C40 Cities Executive Director, Mark Watts, said:
“Partnering with cities is essential to delivering on key climate agreements, as the world faces rising division and slowing climate progress. This communiqué signals a new era of multilateralism, where cities are no longer just bystanders but are co-authors of a shared global future. It is a powerful statement of our collective commitment to a just transition, proving that meaningful climate action is inseparable from social equity”.
UCLG Secretary-General, Emilia Saiz, said:
“The U20 Communiqué shows that local and regional governments can drive the transformations needed to rebuild trust in democracy. We are not only demonstrating what cities can do, but offering a new vision for the world and renewed multilateralism.”