Highlights for Thursday, 23 May 2019

Participants in the Climate Neighborhoods events that took place alongside ICCA2019 report back on key outcomes of the civil society discussions.

The second day of the International Conference on Climate Action 2019 (ICCA219) opened with Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany, delineating Germany’s rationale for stepping up climate action in the context of development cooperation activities, highlighting, in particular, the importance of implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within planetary boundaries. She emphasized the importance of inclusive partnerships and engaging local communities, praising the energetic youth mobilization in the Fridays for Future movement.

Participants then heard panel discussions, including one on the role of science in informing climate action, and a workshop session took place with parallel events on topics such as: investment planning, blended finance, multi-level climate and energy planning, and innovative solutions.

A high-level roundtable also convened with representatives from national, regional, and local governments, as well as intergovernmental organizations and transnational networks, discussing options for stepping up cross-level collaboration for climate action. Participants inter alia discussed: how to foster and better recognize local and regional climate action in countries where the national government is antagonistic to such initiatives; putting in place carbon taxes and using this revenue to support local projects; and ensuring collaborative frameworks to allow every government level to do “what they do best.”

In the afternoon, participants heard a report on the Climate Neighborhoods events that took place alongside ICCA2019 and key takeaways from the parallel workshops.

Karsten Sach, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU), Germany, reported on broad support for the Heidelberg Outcome, which emphasizes the importance of vertical and horizontal cooperation for raising climate ambition. He highlighted the need to align all public policies with the goals of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

As representatives of the co-leading countries of the cities track at the UN Secretary General’s (UNSG) Climate Action Summit, Pacifica Achieng Ogola, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Kenya, and Mehmet Emin Birpınar, Vice-Minister of Environment and Urbanization, Turkey, shared thoughts on how the outcome of the conference will feed into the UNSG’s Summit.

The conference ended with closing remarks by Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter, Parliamentary State Secretary, BMU, Franz Untersteller, Minister for the Environment, Climate, and the Energy Sector, Baden-Württemberg, and Eckart Würzner, Mayor of Heidelberg. The three co-organizers highlighted the conference showed that a lot of solutions already exist, but that cross-level collaboration is needed to further strengthen their roll-out and upscaling.

Many supporting events took place alongside ICCA2019 all through the city of Heidelberg.