C40 calls for cities to be formally recognised as essential partners for multilevel cooperation – so they can continue to lead delivery of on-the-ground climate action
COP30 has been framed by Brazil‘s President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, not only as “the COP of Truth”, but also as the “COP of Implementation,” a moment to shift from negotiation to delivery.
Yet C40 cautions that implementation is only possible when cities and other sub-nationals – responsible for the majority of global emissions, and the vast majority of real-world climate action – are formally recognised by national governments as critical partners in planning and delivery.
Local leaders believe establishing a formal multilevel dialogue between subnational and national governments at COPs can help deliver inclusive climate action faster and further. This must be reflected explicitly in any COP30 outcome text, including the Mutirão Decision.
Embedding subnational governments into decision-making, enabling direct access to finance and technical support, and integrating city-led progress into COP outcomes will allow implementation that is already happening on the ground to be scaled up and expanded. This is a win-win for national governments and their national climate action plans.
Caterina Sarfatti, Managing Director of C40 Cities, said:
“Alongside hundreds of millions of city residents on the frontlines of the climate crisis, mayors are dealing with the causes and consequences of climate change every day. Local leaders like the mayors in the C40 network are peaking and reducing city emissions faster than national governments, they are building communities resilient to extreme heat and flooding, and they are creating millions of good green jobs every year.
“This is what people-centred climate delivery looks like.
“Cities have been asked to deliver on the ambition gap within national climate plans and we are more than doing so. It is only right that subnational action is recognised in the outcomes of the key international negotiation on climate change. There won’t be a ‘COP of implementation’ without subnationals at the heart of it.”
Why Cities are critical to implementation of climate action
Cities are where most people live, where climate impacts hit first and hardest, and where greenhouse-gas emissions are most concentrated. They are also where innovation thrives and where solutions scale fastest. Around the world, cities are already delivering a just transition: cutting emissions, investing in resilience, creating good green jobs, and improving daily life for millions of people.
This includes:
- In Mexico, Guadalajara is putting nature at the centre of its climate strategy by mapping heat islands, prioritising greening in underserved areas, and expanding tree planting and green corridors.
- Los Angeles, USA, is pioneering a Green Shipping Corridor with Long Beach and Shanghai, China, with zero-lifecycle-carbon vessels expected from 2025.
- In Cape Town, South Africa, a new water-conservation programme – from pipe replacement to pressure management and free repairs for low-income households – has halved water consumption
- In Dakar, Senegal, a new electric BRT system will move 300,000 passengers a day, slash travel times, create 1,000 jobs, and integrate informal operators.
- In Brazil, the first green corridor for electric trucks between Rio and São Paulo is accelerating the decarbonisation of regional freight.
Cities are also driving the global fossil-fuel phase-out, in advance and faster than national governments. From Rio’s community solar in favelas to Johannesburg’s solar mini-grids in informal settlements, Amsterdam’s plan to shift 550,000 homes off fossil gas, and Bogotá’s gender-equitable e-bus workforce: cities are not planning the future; they are building it now.
City implementation moves at the pace required to address the climate crisis
In 2026 alone, cities will deliver major, measurable climate action, part of the Yearly Offer of Action C40 and GCoM (The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy), mayors have brought to COP. Examples include:
- Barcelona is funding heat-resilient, solar-powered communities through €100 million in tourist tax revenue
- Oslo’s clean-construction requirements will cut emissions by 10%
- Copenhagen is reducing municipal construction emissions by 20%
- Mumbai is shifting 85% of its bus fleet to electric
- Tokyo’s offshore wind farm will power 900,000 homes
- Shenzhen is operating 1.7 million electric vehicles
- São Paulo is implementing its first climate budget
- Chefchaouen will install solar panels to cut fossil-fuel dependence, lower emissions, and strengthen local energy independence
- Adelaide will expand urban greening and tree planting to reduce heat and reach a 40% urban canopy
- Freetown will intensify heat- and waste-management efforts to protect the 35% of residents living in its 82 informal settlements;
- Buenos Aires will advance its carbon-neutrality goal with the launch of its first Trambús line in 2026.
For full details and more city examples, read C40’s Yearly Offer of Action to view a breakdown of what they have achieved and what they are committing to next year.