• Given the urgent need for climate action, cities must continue working to unlock the acceleration of low-carbon strategies.
• In South America, the Urban LEDS Project supports Colombian and Brazilian cities in structuring fundable climate projects to increase the ambition of local governments.

With the closing of the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) on December 14th, the time pressure for effective action to combat the consequences of climate change became increasingly urgent. Data presented by the Global Carbon Project during the conference, which ended on Friday (14) in Katowice, Poland, revealed that CO2 emissions grew by 2.7% in 2018, compared to 2017, a year in which emissions grew by 1.6%.

This increase shows that the window of opportunity to reverse warming foreseen by the Paris Agreement is closing and reinforces the critical need for rapid and urgent action by all countries party to the Agreement. The data underscores the sense of urgency on the matter, which was also highlighted in the latest Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In it, 195 governments state, based on scientific evidence, that a scenario of global warming of up to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is the path we need to follow to avoid devastating consequences from the impact of climate change. The document emphasizes that the targets stipulated by the Paris Agreement are not sufficient to limit warming to 2°C, much less 1.5°C, and the longer we take to change this scenario, the greater the climate impacts and the more expensive the solutions will be.

In its conclusion, COP24 officially adopted the Paris Agreement Programme of Work (PAWP), recognized the IPCC Special Report's 1.5°C target, and invited countries to build upon the spirit and outcomes of the Talanoa Dialogues to increase the ambition of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Throughout 2018, the North and Latin American regions witnessed the holding of meetings – the Talanoa Dialogues, the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS), and the Latin American and Caribbean Climate Week (LACCW) – to increase countries' ambition regarding their national targets, with the participation of multiple actors. This represented efforts from all levels of government and non-governmental institutions to accelerate action to combat climate change.

Connected to these discussions, international initiatives promoted by ICLEI directly contribute to engaging local governments in efforts to promote actions to reduce emissions of gases that cause global warming, as well as adapt to the impacts that can already be felt. Since 2012, ICLEI South America has supported eight cities in Brazil, through the Urban-LEDS project, in building a technical, political, and institutional framework to address the climate agenda, supporting the development of everything from GHG emission inventories to climate action plans and fundable projects.

In an interview, the climate change managers at ICLEI South America highlight how the Urban LEDS II Project: Accelerating climate action through the promotion of Low-Carbon Urban Development Strategies, is supporting local governments in developing sustainable development strategies, focusing on the challenge of resource mobilization and the implementation of action plans for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

According to Igor Albuquerque, Climate Change Manager at ICLEI South America, accelerating the reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in South American cities requires cities to structure fundable action plans. “Creating a portfolio of climate change projects requires the creation of a multidisciplinary group within the city government, but often the technicians are overwhelmed with their routine responsibilities. To improve this situation, greater technical and political alignment is needed to structure projects that will meet the criteria of funders,” he added.

In its first phase, Urban LEDS contributed to a reduction of 6 million tons of CO2e in the four participating countries (Brazil, South Africa, India, and Indonesia). Now, in its second phase, the project has added seven more Colombian local governments, in addition to the eight Brazilian governments already participating in the first phase, and will focus on deepening the issue of identifying funding sources so that municipalities, which already have their action strategies defined, can leverage and execute their climate action plans.

“To kick off the second phase of the project, we have been conducting a series of workshops and awareness seminars in all participating cities. The open seminars allowed the public to become familiar with and understand the importance of municipal or regional governments investing in low-carbon development strategies,“ stated Camila Chabar, Climate Change Coordinator for ICLEI South America. ”The technical workshops helped us understand the city's current situation to begin the second phase and to identify the internal and external challenges faced by municipalities in implementing these strategies,” she highlighted. This year's project activities impacted more than 800 people, in activities held in 12 cities, and involved more than 15 partners, including banks and multilateral development agencies, international organizations, and national networks of local governments.

The city of Belo Horizonte, for example, will work on two low-carbon development strategies: the installation of solar panels in municipal schools, and the implementation of an electric bus fleet in the city. “For the implementation of the bus fleet, we will support the city in developing a project to attract external resources and assess what other financing mechanism can be implemented. Perhaps a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) could be implemented. The solar panel project will be developed through cooperation between cities,” Chabar indicated.

In Colombia, the municipality of Envigado, the model city within the Aburrá Valley Metropolitan Area, selected a project called Ecozonas, which includes several sectors. “This project has similarities to another Urban LEDS project, Parque Capibaribe, in Recife, as it works with two axes: mitigation and adaptation. In Urban LEDS, we try to encourage strategies that integrate these two fronts so that citizens benefit from a better-adjusted financial and technical effort. An integrated approach that will result in multiple benefits,” added Albuquerque.