The COP26 in November in Glasgow,  from the 1^st to 12^th of November, will be an occasion for governments to raise their ambitions within their National Determined Contributions and current National Adaptation plans.

The UK COP presidency has announced amongst its priorities for this COP: to drive down emissions and set targets towards net-zero emissions, for every country to arrive in Glasgow having set out their adaptation priorities, mobilising finance to tackle climate change towards the $100 billion a year, and to allow for better collaboration between actors, sectors and all levels or governments.

Regions4 at the COP

The overall objective of Regions4 participation at the COP is to promote multilevel governance for an increased ambition and effective action on climate adaptation through the key role of regional governments.

Regions4 will bring forward innovative solutions that can be up-scaled, and present the role Regions4 and its newly reinforced initiative, RegionsAdapt, can play in supporting regional governments in raising their ambitions on adaptation and resilience.

Regions4 has worked closely with the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities constituency to push for a multi-level COP in which collaboration at all levels of governments is recognized and taken into account in the announced new ambitions, and to push for further visibility, through the Race to Resilience campaign, on the actions of non-state actors, including regions, in developing and accelerating actions towards resilience.

Regions4 activities pre-COP

• #WhatsAtState campaign: The campaign is convened by Under2 Coalition and Regions4, and endorsed by the High-Level Climate Champions, the Race To Zero and Race to Resilience. It will run during the 100 days until COP26 to elevate the voice of regional governments. #WhatsAtState will feature the bold actions our members are taking and showcase what we stand to lose if the world does not meet the targets of the Paris Agreement. This initiative will present over 20 regional governments with a geographical balance and their messages will include quote cards, videos, or articles among others.

• Regions4 Policy Brief for COP26: “Raising ambitions on climate adaptation: lessons learnt and contributions of regional governments for COP26”. Based on a review of 10 key best practices  within the past 5 years, from Regions4 and RegionsAdapt members, the aim of the policy brief will be to show how regional governments have developed, implemented and raised the ambitions of their adaptation plans, and resilience or climate actions and to provide lessons learnt that can inform policy makers.

• 30 September: “Urban KLIMA 2050: Multi-stakeholder collaboration to finance and bridge the adaptation gap in the Basque Country”. The Basque Government will organise a side-event within the official Pre-COP26 programme, with the support of Regions4. The event will showcase a leading adaptation initiative in the Basque Country, present and exchange on best practices, and bring together the global initiatives, frameworks and organisations working to promote a more ambitious adaptation agenda through multistakeholder collaboration and multi-level governance.

• 30^th of September:  Lombardy and Scotland are organizing a dedicated event for regions that will take place during the Pre-CoP26, with the support of Regions4. The event will be an international meeting of sub-national governments from all over the world to share their on-going policies, to boost the actions against climate change, to enhance the resilience of the territories and to inspire the goals for the negotiation at the next COP26 in Glasgow. The event will deliver a final declaration on commitments and requests to the COP26 national delegates.

• October 1st: “Race for our Planet” Wilton Park Dialogues, is an accelerator event designed to showcase membership to the Race to Zero and Race to Resilience and explore what this means in practice. Organised by the British Embassy in Rome and Wilton Park, the panel “Runners in the Race to Resilience describe their committments” will count with the participation of Regions4 Secretary General Natalia Uribe.

Regions4 Activities at the COP

• 8th of November (TBC): Regions4 side event on The leading role of regions for raising ambitions on adaptation and resilience

This virtual event, led by Regions4 and co-organized with the Basque Country, Gossas, Cross River State, CONGOPE Ecuador, São Paulo, Scottish Government, Regione Lombardia and Mancomunidad Regional de los Andes; and supported by the Basque Center for Climate change (BC3), ORU-Fogar, Race to Resilience, European Committee of Regions (CoR), Assembly of European Regions, Cities & Regions in the UNFCCC Process, CDP, World Resources Institue, Climate-KIC and the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research of the State of California. The side event will look at how regional governments contribute to raise ambitions on adaptation and are key to deliver climate resilient actions on the ground, looking at the lessons learnt and good practices from 5 years of experiences of the RegionsAdapt initiative, that can fuel the negotiations, and bring incentives for higher ambitions across levels of government.

Regions4 encourages members to express their interest to be co-convener of this event by supporting it politically, providing a speaker, and communicating on the event. For this please contact: climate@regions4.org

• 8th of November: Marrakech Partnership Action Event on Adaptation and Resilience – three-hour event, high political level. Regions4 will input and review the agenda, narrative of the day and we will propose speakers. Virtual or physical event (TBC)

• 11th of November: UNFCCC official side event: Time4MultilevelAction; 2030 Agenda of cities and regions to enhance ambition & accelerate action, led by ICLEI, and co-organized by Regions4 Sustainable Development, UCLG, Basque Center for Climate change (BC3) and Conseil des Communes et Régions d’Europe (CCRE/ CEMR). This side event will look at the importance of the participation of all levels of government as recognized by the Paris Agreement. Through numerous 2nd NDC experiences, the LGMA constituency will show how to ensure that multi-level collaboration becomes the new normal for transformative, holistic and inclusive action in the age of climate emergency. Virtual or physical event (TBC)

• 11^th of November: Marrakesh Partnership’s Action Event for Regions, Cities, and Built Environment: Marrakech Partnership Day on Adaptation and Resilience – three-hour event, high political level. Regions4 will support and review the agenda of this event and narrative, and propose speakers. Virtual or physical event (TBC)

• Pavilions Marrakesh Partnership “Resilience Hub” and LGMA “Multilevel Action Pavilion”- Regions4 will look at opportunities for interventions from its members within those pavilions, but does not yet have confirmation and full schedule of those events. 

• Regions4 delegation: Regions4 will ask for accreditations for its members to attend physically the COP. However, given the COVID pandemic it cannot ensure that all members will be able to attend given restricted quotas, and restrictions to attend the COP for certain countries. Regions4 will offer virtual options for its led events at the COP to be inclusive and adapt to the current situation. For more information about restrictions to travel to Scotland consult here: Coronavirus (COVID-19): international travel and managed isolation (quarantine) – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

For more information contact: Heloise Chicou, Climate Advocacy Officer, Regions4 : climate@regions4.org

Please see here the UK presidency calendar for the COP: Presidency Programme – UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) at the SEC – Glasgow 2021 (ukcop26.org)