The Local Leaders Forum (LLF) took place ahead of COP30

The COP30 Local Leaders Forum united mayors, governors, and subnational officials from around the world to showcase how local action can drive climate progress.

The event, hosted by the COP30 Presidency and Bloomberg Philanthropies, occurred in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the days leading up to the global COP30 negotiations in Belém. The Forum spotlighted local climate solutions and was a space for high-level gatherings, participants shared solutions, strengthened partnerships, and advanced a unified subnational climate agenda.

Important events at the Forum include the Global Mayors Summit and C40 World Mayors Summit, the CHAMP High Level Political Dialogue and the Under2 Coalition Global States and Regions Summit.

The culminating outcome of the gatherings was the Local Leaders Joint Statement, which was a declaration of support from more than 14,000 cities, towns, states, regions, and provinces across every continent, affirming their collective commitment to advancing real, on-the-ground climate solutions.

As part of the Statement, local leaders committed to:

• Helping countries achieve their national climate goals by actively engaging as partners in implementation and ensuring a just and resilient transition.
• Ensuring a robust pipeline of over 2,500 transformative, bankable local projects to help localize and channel climate finance for both mitigation and adaptation.
• Advancing multilevel action and collaboration to make the COP process one of implementation and accountability.

Countries have the power to close 37% of the emissions reduction gap between current plans and a Paris-aligned trajectory, by working with their subnational governments. Local leaders have the power to regulate, plan, tax, mobilize capital, and send strong market signals. Local leaders, including via the Local Government and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) constituency, are ready to deepen partnerships across all levels of government to accelerate real action and measurable progress on both emissions reduction and resilience and adaptation.

The 77 CHAMP nations (Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships) recognise the opportunity of the Statement to work side by side with governments to turn ambition into action and promises into progress.