Our world is on life support. 2022 has been filled with unprecedented climate disasters like droughts, floods, wildfires, and temperatures in every corner of the world. Yet a comprehensive, global response to the climate emergency has been largely stalled due to COVID-19 recovery, war, and threats of recession.
With over 2,500 jurisdictions and local governments covering 1 billion people having declared a climate emergency, cities and regions are a source of inspiration as models for how to use their power and influence to be the change they want to see in the world.
Daring Cities 2022 brings together cities, leaders and climate experts
At Daring Cities 2022, a week-long virtual forum 3-7 October, over one thousand bold government officials, civil servants, funders, academics, and young people will gather to know more, act better, and lead together to tackle the climate emergency. Twenty workshops and high-level dialogues will focus on collectively moving cities and regions from triaging the symptoms to treating the impacts of the climate emergency through multi-level action and implementation.
Accessible finance is key to transformational climate emergency response
Cities continue to report significant challenges in accessing finance for transformational climate action, especially in the Global South. As a result, many sessions at Daring Cities 2022 will focus on best practices and tools for project development and implementation.
Climate action funding is available, but not accessible due to the lack of local technical and financial capacities to design investment-ready projects. Initiatives like Transformative Actions Program (TAP) are critical to providing project preparation support for cities and a pipeline of viable projects to funders. — Mar-Len Abigail S. Binay, Mayor of Makati, Philippines, ICLEI Global Executive Committee, Innovative Financing Portfolio Chair
Daring Cities 2022 will host a live pitch event on 6 October at 16:00 Uhr that aims to help European, Latin American and Caribbean cities to better understand financing opportunities and requirements, enhance the knowledge on project pitching, as well as provide a live space for selected projects to test their pitch and concept.
The federal city of Bonn as a beacon of comprehensive climate action
The federal city of Bonn is a shining example of a city leading the way in climate emergency response with a civil-society driven participatory process complemented by a climate action plan currently in the making. Bonn recently completed their second Voluntary Local Review (VLR) that reports on progress made on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals since the adoption of the Bonn Sustainability Strategy in February 2019.
The city is also drafting their Bonn Climate Plan 2035, as a systemic approach towards climate neutrality. This plan will point out what the Bonn Corporation and Bonn civil society must achieve and implement to become fully climate neutral in 2035.
The federal city of Bonn has a long history of climate action dating back to the 1990’s. With time, comes wisdom. We now know that urgent, multilevel climate action is the only path forward to pursue transformative change to ensure the livelihood of our cities where no one is left behind. — Katja Dörner, Mayor of Bonn, who co-chairs the Climate Action and Low Emission Portfolio within the ICLEI Global Executive Committee
Daring Cities 2022 will feature two events of the BonnGlobal series in partnership with resident organizations and networks, aimed at addressing the climate emergency and emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary, multilevel and multilateral collaboration. These workshops will focus on gender-conscious climate action and – in the context of UNDRR’s Making Cities Resilient 2030 campaign – on resilience and disaster Prevention.
On 7 October, Mayor Katja Dörner will discuss innovative financing and multilevel action towards COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt with prominent guests in a live-streamed session at GIZ headquarters in Bonn, Germany.
Accessible, inclusive conversations on climate action
Supported by the federal city of Bonn, the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Foundation for International Dialogue of the Savings Bank in Bonn, and the Ministry of Environment of Japan, Daring Cities 2022 remains free of charge to attend, anywhere in the world.
Registration is now open at daringcities.org/register. For more information about the Daring Cities 2022, visit daringcities.org.
