GCoM assists cities in their fight against climate change

The Global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM) is a coalition formed in response to climate change. It is one of the largest global alliances consisting of almost 12,000 cities and local governments of 142 countries spread over six continents. GCoM aims to increase access to secure, affordable and sustainable energy. It works to raise awareness and accelerate response toward climate change by enhancing access to information and building partnerships with climate service providers to ensure a climate-resilient future. Abhishek Pandey, Editor, Urban Update, interviewed Pier Roberto Remitti, Co-Managing Director, Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, to learn more about this global initiative and its missions for cities. Excerpts from the interview…

The network of GCoM cities has grown to 12,000 cities in 13 regional covenants. So, how did cities respond? How has been your experience?

Of course, it varies region by region and city by city. So, the regional covenant from Europe, for instance, is the oldest one, as it started in 2008, 15 years ago. There is a large number of European countries implementing the local climate action plan. The response has been excellent in Latin America and Africa in the last 2-3 years. Almost 75 per cent of cities joining GCoM are from those two regions.
The regional covenants in South and South-East Asia are the youngest, which started working in 2018-19. So, the engagement by cities is still low, but there is a huge possibility and margin for improvement. There are many cities, mostly intermediary cities, here that are working on their climate action. If you are a big city, for instance, Jakarta or Dubai, you will find the resources as per the demand because they are as powerful as a country. They have all the stuff they need. However, the capacity of intermediary cities is low, and resources are limited. They may have strong and urgent needs, but they need that. There is a large room for improvement even in the number of cities involved and their capacity for commitment and climate action plans.

What is happening in Asia?

There are less than 70 signatory cities, if I am not wrong. Some of them are very good and ambitious. We have some cities from India, but not many. Gujarat has maximum GCoM cities (8). Kolkata and Mumbai are ambitious and motivated. We are getting good feedback from Malaysia and
Indonesia too.

Mumbai and Kolkata are big cities. Are you targeting intermediary cities in India, like Bhopal, Raipur and Varanasi?

We are trying, some of them are joining, but there is still a lot of work. Regional covenant in the region has a lot of work to do. We are offering assistance to make it a success.

Can you tell us more about the regional covenants in Asia? Is there one covenant or multiple?

They are counted as one unit but split into different regional covenants. There is one regional covenant for South Asia, including India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and the Maldives. One South-East Asia covenant based in Jakarta covers Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand. Then there is one regional covenant in Japan and one in South
Korea, as these two countries are different, so it is not convenient to mix them up. There is also one that is now being initiated in China. The long-term covenant of Asia is at the moment financially supported by the
European Union.

There are two mechanisms that work in GCoM. Where is your secretariat in the South Asia?

There was a secretariat working from 2017 until 2019. It was established, but then the position changed, and now they are working with the regional coordinators. They have to develop a new framework; this work started last year. There are already partners like the AIILSG, NIUA, WRI, and ICLEI.

Talking about the GCoM initiative, it started in 2008, as you said, in Europe. So, what is the outcome of this 15-year-long exercise? I am intrigued to know the best practices and the outcomes?

The primary outcome is the common reporting framework. Most of the cities joining GCoM come from two different reporting frameworks; one is the EU covenant which was used in the African region and Eastern Europe.
Then there is the Compact of Mayors, used in the USA and UN organisations. So, these are two different frameworks, but the cities were not able to speak with a unique voice and unique tools. These two different frameworks were integrated in 2017-18. All the 12,000 cities are now reporting in a unique method, which means they have a unique voice, unique database and unique tools to develop actions. The second outcome would be that it is a great opportunity, a chance for exchanging and networking among cities from different parts of the world. So, now various good practices from the cities of Latin America can be implemented in India. Cities interact directly with each other about what they are doing through GCoM channels.

This is one of the biggest initiatives connecting mayoral level engagement on a global scale for keeping the global temperature increase below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Many things have happened since its inception, like creating a common reporting framework and cities exchanging ideas. If you have to pick one regional covenant that has done very well in these areas, which one will that be and why?

Africa has done well recently. The European covenant is the best one by default because they were the ones who started years ago. However, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the work has begun five years ago. They are motivated and developing very fast, which is impressive. A month back, I was in an event joined by intermediary cities from Africa. I have seen several people
from Africa who could speak on technical aspects of the climate action plans as if they were technical experts. This, you believe me, has never happened in my career. Usually, politicians can speak about principles very well but not so much on technical aspects. But in Africa, we have seen many Mayors telling their stories about the climate action plans facilitated by the GCoM or regional covenant.

That’s quite inspiring. Coming to Asia, what is your target for Asia, especially for South Asia?

I would say there is an official target. In South Asia, it is to get 50 cities by 2024.

That’s a good number. I hope you achieve that. Thank You for
your time.

Thank You.

What is GCoM?
GCoM is the largest global alliance for city climate leadership globally, built upon the commitment of over 11,500 cities and local governments. These cities hail from 6 continents and 142 countries. In total, they represent more than 1 billion people. Based on current targets and actions, GCoM cities and local governments could collectively reduce global emissions by 1.9 GtCO2e annually in 2030 compared to a business-as-usual (BAU) trajectory. In 2050, that figure is estimated to be 3.8 GtCO2e annually, comprising one-quarter of total urban emissions abatement potential. The cities and partners of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy share a long-term vision of supporting voluntary action to combat climate change.