Placing territorial
action at the heart of the response to climate challenge
Lyon,
Rhône-Alpes Region, 2nd July 2015
Fighting against climate
change, by limiting global warming below 2°C, while keeping in perspective the
adequacy of a 1.5°C objective as stated in the Cancun Agreements,
is a challenge for humankind. It puts an obligation on our national Governments
as well as on all groups and individuals who can take action to do so. Each
should take its part of this global responsibility.
Meeting together for two
days in Lyon, in the Rhône Alpes Region, through the international networks
which represent them, these non-State actors, as non-Party stakeholders acting
besides Contracting Parties to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change) have strongly stated their common will to take on this
challenge by aligning their daily local and regional actions with the decarbonization
of the world economy scenario, taking into account the various national,
regional and local circumstances and respective capabilities, and considering
that the future of society is to be designed within the perspective of a
low-carbon, resilient economy.
The World Summit Climate
& Territories is not an isolated event. It reinforces a long-term dynamic aiming
at building political momentum of non-Party stakeholders towards climate action.
It relies on previous resolutions of local and subnational Governments’ networks
such as the Local Government Climate Roadmaps (Bali, 2007 and Nantes, 2013), the
Durban Adaptation Charter (2009); the World Summits of States and Regions in
Montreal (2005), Rio (2012), and Paris (2014); as well as the Bordeaux and
Yamoussoukro Declarations (2015). In addition, it builds upon the joint
declarations of non-Party stakeholders “Catalyzing
Action” (New York, 2014), the Lifou declaration (Oceania 21), or made at
the MEDCOP21 (Marseille, 2015). It will feed into next major steps of the
global mobilisation of territorial stakeholders (Ontario, Bogota, etc.) in the
run up to the Climate Summit for Local Leaders, scheduled on 4th December in
Paris. The World Summit Climate & Territories
is an opportunity for participatory dialogue, commitments and proposals across
all types of non-Party stakeholders, reaching an unprecedented level of
synergies and representativeness.
With our different
origins, cultures and approaches, we, participants to the Summit, wish to collectively
claim our commitment and points of agreement, and we therefore declare our
support for a collaborative approach to the fight against climate change:
We support a local and subnational approach to climate
action
Firstly, we consider that
the fight against climate change cannot be achieved without a truly local and subnational approach that takes
into account economic, social, cultural and environmental realities.
A successful strategy against climate change requires public policies and non-State
actors’ measures to be articulated on the basis of a robust local approach,
with a strong view to strengthening local and regional governance, to fostering
fundamental rights protection and a sustainable human and gender-sensitive development.
The 21st Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change) due to take place in December 2015 in Paris will
therefore have to acknowledge the need for such a local community-based approach.
With this in mind, we welcome the introduction of the so-called “Solutions’ Agenda”
as a fourth pillar within the Lima-Paris Action Agenda in order to ensure a
successful outcome in Paris and we underline our commitment to upscale the
level of ambition by 2020 and beyond.
We affirm that global trends
of negotiations on development and climate cannot be addressed separately:
synergies are necessary between the discussions around the Financing for
development Conference, the Post-2015 Development Agenda, Habitat III and COP21.
Measures aiming at limiting climate change must also help face the other great
challenges of our century and vice-versa, such as poverty alleviation, access
to sustainable energy, water, and other resources, sustainable urban and rural
development, food sovereignty, gender equality, decent work and workers'
rights, including those of farmers; respect for the right of indigenous peoples,
protection of forests and biodiversity, preservation of natural resources etc. Affirming
and demonstrating these synergies is necessary to engage all stakeholders into
a successful greenhouse gas emissions phase-out pathway.
Particular attention
should be paid to adaptation actions, which have to foster resilience and a
sustainable development at the local and subnational level, building on local and regional initiatives and
traditional knowledge; the need to ensure a fair transition for territories,
companies, and their employees during this period of transformation towards a
low-carbon economy; and the need to strengthen the influence of women and their
capacity for action, in particular in local governance. We also recognize the
fundamental role of education, since raising awareness among
the youngest generations and strengthening their ability to take action are
crucial challenges in a changing world.
We emphasize the importance of financing for territorial
initiatives
Setting up new financial
resources is a necessary prerequisite for strengthening local and subnational
capacities, with a view to developing a strong global action towards increasing
the number of actions at the local and subnational level. Based on our
experience, we know that engaging into a low-carbon, resilient economy will create
jobs, bring significant savings and improve the quality of livelihoods thanks to social and environmental
co-benefits in a number of areas. We call on national Governments
and financial institutions to upscale financial resources dedicated to the
fight against climate change, to create new mechanisms (guarantee facilities,
green bonds, third party financing, internalization of carbon costs in the
economy) with a view to increasing the capacity of actions. We support the engagement
of businesses and labour unions into
this collective endeavor; the association of all local and subnational
stakeholders in the development, implementation, and evaluation of projects; as
well as a local approach of energy challenges.
We believe it is crucial
that local and subnational Governments in developing countries get privileged access
to international facilities, such as the Green Climate Fund. Enhancing their
ability to set up financially safe projects should be a priority of the
international agenda. Likewise, we believe it is relevant to explore whether specific
funds dedicated to local and regional action could be rapidly established;
revenues of such facilities could be provided directly by subnational
Governments themselves or through innovative financial instruments. Given the
increasing array of financing mechanisms (public development aid, loans or
public or private guarantees, allocation of revenue from carbon taxes, philanthropy,
etc.), we advocate an integrated approach that will create synergies between
these different sources, which have so far rarely coordinated their
efforts.
We commit to keep acting and to strengthen our
engagement
Pledges formulated in
Lyon by international networks’ leaders, especially Heads of Governments,
Mayors, Prime Ministers, Governors or Presidents who can commit on behalf of
their Governments, are a major contribution to the elaboration of the Solutions’
agenda and a credible scenario to stabilize the climate. These collective
commitments are not theoretical. They originate in concrete results in a number of territories that have already managed
successfully to reduce their GHG emissions and have undertaken
ambitious climate adaptation policies. These initiatives, which are supported
by the networks of local and subnational Governments, the Covenant of Mayors,
the Compact of States and Regions, and the Compact of Mayors, today testifies
to this engagement. We therefore recommend regular and independent evaluations
of actions that have been taken, as well as reliable, easily accessible
accounting of avoided emissions. Such accounting will build trust, as much as
fulfilling financial needs through pledges to provide support. In order to back
this movement, we will further develop the sharing of good practices and
cooperation between local and subnational Governments; we will reinforce
dialogue and synergies across all non-Party stakeholders and involve citizens,
men and women, into the elaboration and the implementation of action plans.
In line with the outcome
of the World Summit Climate & Territories workshops, we pledge to support coalitions
for action bringing together all relevant stakeholders in the fields of low-carbon
transport, development of renewable energy, sustainable housing, access to
sustainable energy, right to food, etc. We call upon national Governments to
support the proposals, which have been collectively elaborated by consensus within
the workshops of the Summit, with the aim of strengthening concrete ways of
action for non-State actors. And we urge all national Governments to include
measures implemented by their non-State entities into their own Intended
Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), and to draw full benefits from
local and subnational Governments’ actions.
Our pledges have been
formulated on the basis of a dialogue between non-Party stakeholders, with
their own various experiences and roots. They should support ambitious
contributions from national Governments for a robust, binding, equitable and universal
agreement in Paris, that will
serve as a clear call to action for the collective good. Responses
to climate challenge must therefore include reinforced international
regulations, strengthened cooperation between and within territories, as well
as equality and solidarity between all the inhabitants of our fragile planet. What
brings us together is the conviction that the answer to this challenge relies
on everybody’s action.
