States, Provinces and Regions: Driving Real Climate Action

2024 was the hottest year on record, with each of the past ten years ranking as the warmest ever. According to the World Meteorological Organization, global temperatures reached 1.55 °C above pre-industrial levels, driving visible impacts across every continent. From 48 °C heatwaves in India to record-breaking heat and wildfires in Andalucía and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes as in all southern europe , from floods in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal to mounting losses across Latin America and the Caribbean, the cost of inaction is already here.

With the urgency of these crises, there is broad consensus that action must accelerate. At COP30, the Brazilian Presidency has introduced the spirit of mutirão—a call for collective, community-driven climate action—and the Action Agenda, which will showcase real solutions from every level, looking beyond national governments to include the many actors already implementing change on the ground.

Subnational governments—states, provinces and regions—are central to this approach. They are not just implementing national policies: they are driving innovation, enabling finance, and leading the way toward a just and resilient transition. Through local solutions, they connect urban and rural areas, advance progress on climate and biodiversity, and work directly with communities to build inclusive resilience. For them, COP30 is not only an opportunity to demonstrate leadership, but also to ensure that their innovations and partnerships are recognised as essential to delivering global goals.

Do you know?

Up to 40% of the global emissions gap to a 1.5°C future could be closed by 2030 through action by subnational governments (states, provinces, and regions).
72 % of subnational governments already have climate strategies that directly address adaptation. (CDP States and Regions 2024 Data)
With authority over land, water, forests, and coastlines, subnational governments are bridges between ecosystems and economies.
Only about 17% of adaptation finance currently reaches the local level, limiting its impact on the ground (UNEP Gap Report 2023). Subnational governments are key actors in scaling up adaptation action, as they are already financing the transition, managing public investment programs and unlocking climate funding.
A just and sustainable climate future starts with subnational governments. It’s time to empower them to lead the way.

Regions4 key messages

Regions4 key events

At the Local Leaders Forum | Rio de Janeiro

1. High Level Roundtable on Subnational Action – 4 November – Rio de Janeiro
📅 Date: 4th of November| Venue: Rio de Janeiro | More information.

Description: Regions4, in partnership with the Under2 Coalition and others, is shaping the agenda, securing interventions from high-level regional representatives, and convening a dedicated high-level event on states and regions.
Lead organisers: Bloomberg, Regions4, Under2Coalition, GCF and others
Registration: to be shared soon

At the COP30 Conference | Belém

1. High Level Roundtable From the Ground Up: Leveraging Subnational Action to Deliver Climate and Nature Commitments
📅 Date TBD | Venue: TBD

Description: This high-level roundtable will spotlight subnational governments—states, provinces, and regions—as essential implementers of national climate and biodiversity goals. By translating national commitments into territorial action, subnational actors drive just resilience, biodiversity protection, and sustainable investments. The session will showcase how regions are advancing NDCs, NAPs, and NBSAPs through integrated, nature-positive approaches, setting the stage for COP31 ambition.
Lead organisers: Nature4Climate, Regions4, Under2 Coalition, ABEMA, GCF Task Force
Audience: Open to negotiations, donors, national and subnational leaders and observers.

2. High level roundtable Mediterranean Climate Action Partnership
📅 Date TBD | Venue: TBD

Description: ThIs high-level event featuring a high-level political panel and a technical panel, aimes at creating a strategic space to showcase mediterranean climate action.
Lead organisers: Regions4, Government of Catalonia, Mediterranean Climate Action Partnership
Registration: to be shared soon

3. Networking event (TBD)
📅 Date TBD | Venue: TBD

Lead organisers: Regions4, GCF, Under2
Registration: on invitation.

4. Closed-door roundtables with Donors on Just Resilience Finance
📅 Date TBD | Venue: Nature Pavillion (Private room)

Description: This strategic roundtable will convene key climate finance donors and selected regional leaders to present concrete investment opportunities under the Just Resilience Action Platform. Building on pilot initiatives in Ecuador and other regions, the session will make the case for urgent financing of critical regional projects that deliver climate justice, ecosystem restoration, and community-led adaptation.
Objective: Mobilize direct finance partnerships for regional Just Resilience pilots.
Audience: Invitation-only – key donors, philanthropies, multilateral banks, regional governors.

5. Closed-door Bioregions & Nature-Based Investment Dialogues

📅 Date TBD | Venue: Nature Pavillion (Private room)

Description: This targeted session will explore clustered investment models for nature-based solutions and bioregional development. It will bring together donors and pioneering regional governments to co-develop funding strategies that support jurisdictional approaches, ecosystem restoration, and sustainable rural development.
Objective: Identify donor interest and unlock funding pathways for regional-scale nature-based initiatives.
Audience: Invitation-only – selected donors, technical partners, and regional investment leads.

Key Launches at COP30

At COP30 in Belém, Regions4 will present a series of key launches designed to strengthen resilience where it matters most:

RegionsAdapt Progress Report 2025 – Financing Resilience Where It Matters: Scaling Subnational Climate Finance Now
This flagship report tracks the adaptation efforts of states, regions, and provinces worldwide, drawing on data reported through CDP. It highlights evidence, best practices, and recommendations on how subnational governments are mobilising finance for climate adaptation, helping to bridge the global adaptation finance gap. (Read our previous reports here).
Just Resilience Action Platform
A new mechanism designed to channel finance, peer learning, tools, and leadership directly to the regional level, accelerating just and inclusive climate action.
Just Resilience Policy Brief
Positioning regional governments as central actors in advancing resilience, this brief offers practical guidance for collaboration with vulnerable communities and makes the case for climate finance and partnerships that recognise territorial leadership.

#RegionsVoice

In 2019 Regions4 launched the global campaign #RegionsVoice in a collective effort to bring the voice of regional governments to the major events and negotiation processes in sustainable development within the UN.

The aim of the campaign is to ensure the visibility and wider recognition of the role of regional governments in sustainable development, by elevating both individual and collective messages and engaging with a wider audience during the UN Decade of Action.

Follow our RegionsVoice campaign

RegionsVoice: Empowering subnational governments to shape a sustainable future

#RegionsVoice

Regions4 Press Toolkit for COP30

This ‘Press Toolkit for COP30’ is designed to help partners amplify the role of subnational governments in delivering just, inclusive, and resilient climate action at COP30. It includes key messages, social media content, short videos, and quotes from local leaders. Partners are encouraged to use and share these materials across their platforms to spotlight regional voices, solutions, and leadership driving climate justice at COP30.

Regions4 initiatives

RegionsAdapt is our climate flagship initiative dedicated to empowering subnational governments worldwide to adapt to the impacts of climate change. It is also the platform where subnational can report on and track progress on climate adaptation, and showcase their action and ambition within the Regions Race to Resilience;
Regions4 is also supporting its members in climate action projects: building resilience for EU regions in the Pathways2Resilience project, connecting science and policy for action in the MAIA project, and buiding capacity of Francophone African Regions through the COOP’R project.