#WhatsAtState
Providing greater visibility to regional climate leadership and calling for increased national ambition at COP27.
With the COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) only 100 days away, Regions4 and the Under2 Coalition have joined forces to voice regional aspirations and contributions in the countdown to this important event.
At COP27 attention will be focused not only on the targets being set to stabilize global temperature rises – but on the actions being taken to achieve them.
Regional governments lead on climate policymaking and action against climate change as territories continue to face the impacts of this global emergency. Yet their presence in international decision-making fora continues to be insufficient.
The Under2 Coalition and Regions4 are taking this moment to start their second chapter of the #WhatsAtState – an online communication campaign to elevate the voices of states and regions ahead of this crucial summit that was launched at COP26.
It also seeks to emphasize the importance of including regional governments in the global climate processes by highlighting some of the innovative initiatives taking place under the leadership of members of Regions4 and Under2 Coalition.
On the road to COP27, we will be featuring our members across our website, social media platforms, and media. Stay tuned!
Follow the #WhatsAtState hashtag on social media and learn more about the campaign on the Under2 Coalition’s website.
Key facts
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With the current global crises, national governments need to remain politically committed to the 1,5 degrees carbon transition, and transition towards clean or/and renewable energies and not fall back to carbon-prone fossil fuels energy sources.
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The Paris Agreement was an excellent starting point but now governments need to demonstrate how – and when – they are planning to meet their targets and raise their ambitions, and how they will include and collaborate with state and regional governments.
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Regional governments are crucial to international climate processes and multilevel governance must be the new normal and be supported to achieve common goals.
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Climate finance must reach and be decentralized at the local and regional level, for both mitigation and adaptation in order to raise ambition and the impact of actions.
Campaign partners
Under2 Coalition is a global community of state and regional governments committed to ambitious climate action in line with the Paris Agreement. The Under2 Coalition brings together 260 governments representing 1.75 billion people and 50% of the global economy.
Ahead of COP27 Under2 Coalition has called for all states and regions to adopt net zero emissions targets as a matter of urgency, and Regions4 continues to work with the RegionsAdapt community of 73 governments to establish sustainable and ambitious adaptation plans and resilient actions at the subnational level.
Under2 Coalition and Regions4 initiative RegionsAdapt are official partners of the UN’s Race to Zero and Race to Resilience campaigns respectively, and the #WhatsAtState campaign is endorsed by the UN High-Level Climate Champions.
While the Race To Zero is rallying leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions, and investors for a healthy, resilient, zero-carbon recovery that prevents future threats, creates decent jobs, and unlocks inclusive, sustainable growth, the Race to Resilience is catalyzing a step-change in global ambition for climate resilience, putting people and nature first in pursuit of a resilient world where we do not just survive climate shocks and stresses but thrive in spite of them.
Join us!
More info at: https://www.theclimategroup.org/whats-at-state
Featured Members
#WhatsAtState features various Regions4 and RegionsAdapt members, such as:
“As a consequence of climate change, by 2050 in the Basque Country we will experiment a sea level rise of between 18 and 22 centimetres affecting ecosystems and municipalities located in the coastal zone. We will see changes in the rainfall patterns with less days with gentle rainfall, and more days of heavy rainfall. And we will endure rising temperatures of between 1.5 and 5 degrees. It is imperative for all levels of government to act now to avoid the upcoming impacts of climate change. We must raise the ambition on adaptation and meet the Paris Agreement targets to achieve truly resilient societies, economies and territories.”
Ms Arantxa Tapia
Minister for Economic Development, Sustainability and Environment, Basque Country & Regions4 President
“Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time. But it also offers unprecedented opportunities to build a more resilient world where economic development and environmental protection go hand in hand. Our future depends on the decisions we make today. Together, let’s do the right thing and pave the way towards carbon neutrality by 2050, for us, our children and our future generations.”
Mr Benoit Charette
Minister of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change and Minister Responsible for the Fight Against Racism
“We started the mission of recognizing the role of subnational regions in responding to the many challenges of sustainability almost 20 years ago. Then in 2015 we saw the Paris Agreement clearly recognize our importance but still not show our involvement.”
Eduardo Trani
Subsecretary of Environment, Government of São Paulo
“Balam Kú is an ecosystem of great ecological importance for the survival of endangered species such as the jaguar, tapir and white-lipped peccary, however, at present its percentage of water catchment decreases annually as a result of climate change. These bodies of water mean life support for biodiversity, and are facing risks such as droughts, surrounding deforestation and fires. Our team and community brigades working on protect and restore our natural resource in protected areas.”
Find out more!
Join our call to action towards COP26.
Héloïse Chicou, responsible
of this project:
Héloïse Chicou
Climate Action and Resilience Programme Manager
climate@regions4.org
