At a decisive decade for climate action, cities and regions are increasingly recognized as essential partners in planning, implementing, and monitoring pioneering climate solutions, helping to embed national goals into local contexts.

As a new joint assessment – launched today at COP30 – from the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) and C40 Cities reveals, cities are rapidly moving from pledges to real-world implementation, delivering climate results at a pace that already outstrips national progress. By systematically integrating cities and regions, Parties could unlock the ambition needed to respond to the evidence of the first Global Stocktake (GST), close the implementation gap identified in the GST, and ultimately get closer to the 1.5°C goal, particularly in countries endorsing the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP).

The Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP) – launched at COP28 by the COP28 Presidency and Bloomberg Philanthropies – is a platform to enhance collaboration between national and subnational governments in climate policy and finance. Recognizing that cities and regions play a critical role in implementing national climate commitments, CHAMP was designed to bridge the gap between local action and national policies. Since its inception, 77 countries and the European Union have endorsed CHAMP, demonstrating a growing global commitment to multilevel governance.