Impakter
  • FINANCE
    • ESG News
    • Sustainable Finance
    • Business
  • TECH
    • Start-up
    • AI & Machine Learning
    • Green Tech
  • Environment
    • Biodiversity
    • Climate Change
    • Circular Economy
    • Energy
  • Industry News
    • Entertainment
    • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Food and Agriculture
    • Health
    • Politics & Foreign Affairs
    • Philanthropy
    • Science
    • Sport
  • Editorial Series
    • SDGs Series
    • Shape Your Future
    • Sustainable Cities
      • Copenhagen
      • San Francisco
      • Seattle
      • Sydney
  • About us
    • Company
    • Team
    • Global Leaders
    • Partners
    • Write for Impakter
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
  • FINANCE
    • ESG News
    • Sustainable Finance
    • Business
  • TECH
    • Start-up
    • AI & Machine Learning
    • Green Tech
  • Environment
    • Biodiversity
    • Climate Change
    • Circular Economy
    • Energy
  • Industry News
    • Entertainment
    • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Food and Agriculture
    • Health
    • Politics & Foreign Affairs
    • Philanthropy
    • Science
    • Sport
  • Editorial Series
    • SDGs Series
    • Shape Your Future
    • Sustainable Cities
      • Copenhagen
      • San Francisco
      • Seattle
      • Sydney
  • About us
    • Company
    • Team
    • Global Leaders
    • Partners
    • Write for Impakter
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
Impakter
No Result
View All Result
Home Environment

Daring Cities: Empowering Local Leaders in the Fight Against Climate Change

byCharlotte Beauchamp
October 7, 2020
in Environment, Politics & Foreign Affairs, Society
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

In the midst of the pandemic, climate action has been forced to take a back seat whilst global leaders focus on the immediate crisis at hand. But the ongoing climate emergency and its impact on cities, towns and their residents has not been put on hold. 

To address this, ICLEI and the City of Bonn, Germany, have partnered to launch Daring Cities 2020, the world’s very first global virtual forum for urban leaders tackling the climate emergency. Both are renowned active participants in localised climate mitigation policies, with ICLEI celebrating 30 years of local government action this year. 

Running from Oct. 7-28, 2020, the free online event aims is to empower local leaders around the world to take direct action to accelerate resilience-building and climate mitigation efforts within the context of the pandemic, in addition to connecting and recognising the “Daring Cities” that have made and implemented bold commitments to climate action or have embedded climate action into the heart of their COVID-19 recovery plan and efforts.

“As Mayors, we witness the impacts of climate change in our own cities. We local governments are determined to answer the call of emergency, to be the ones daring to take the lead on climate action,”

— Ashok Sridharan, Mayor of Bonn and ICLEI President.  

The three-week-long action-orientated forum intends to highlight how the longer-term issue of climate change can still be dealt with whilst navigating the current global health crisis. Open to the public, it offers a wide variety of high-level programs, including informative panel discussions, presentations and workshops as well as personal networking opportunities.

Significant speakers at Daring Cities include UN Secretary-General António Guterres, COP26 President for the United Kingdom Alok Sharma and the Japanese Minister of Environment Shinjirō Koizumi. The event will help to set the tone ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), building on the previous Resilient Cities Congress organised by ICLEI.

Impa

“While national and global leaders are struggling to address this urgent crisis, the daring actions of local leaders are spreading around the world,” Secretary-General of ICLEI Gino Van Begin remarked. “Daring Cities will recognize and empower these courageous leaders.”

Japan is one such example where cities and regions are taking individual action in a grassroots movement that has led to a nationwide push for change: 157 Japanese cities and regions have committed to achieving net-zero targets and are partaking in the Race to Zero campaign by the Climate Action Champions of the UN Climate Change Convention to mobilise leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions, and investors to achieve a healthy, resilient, zero-carbon recovery. 

Aerial view of green space in Tokyo, Japan
In The Photo: Tokyo is just one of the cities in Japan that has signed up to the UN’s Race to Zero challenge. Photo Credit: Jakub Dziubak / Unsplash

This lateral show of unified commitment is made all the more impressive considering Japan’s less than lackluster ambition on a national level. Japan’s latest NDC commitments, outlining the country’s intended reductions in greenhouse gas emissions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), remained largely unchanged from its earlier commitments towards the Paris Agreement made in 2015. 

The executive decision submitted in March 2020 was widely criticised and deemed “highly insufficient” by the Climate Action Tracker analysis. However, since the country’s city-wide commitments to the Race to Zero, Minister Koizumi has confirmed that Japan will submit its third NDC by COP26 and that it will be more ambitious than the last, indicating the wider influence local climate policy can have in determining a national, and international, course of action.

The latest scientific research from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirms the world only has until 2030 to limit a climate change catastrophe. With just less than 10 years to provide a cohesive and integrated global response, ICLEI’s Daring Cities event recognises the desperate need for local leaders to strategise, learn and commit together to respond to the climate emergency.

As we look towards our next ten years of work, we want to urgently focus on the current climate emergency and the need to act boldly.

— Secretary-General of ICLEI Gino Van Begin.

— —

For more information about the forum and registration, please visit Daring Cities 2020.

The full event program is available here.


Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own, not those of Impakter.com. — In the Featured Photo: Landscape of the City of Bonn, Germany. Featured Photo Credit: ICLEI.

Tags: Covid-19 recoverylocal communitiesLow emission cityNet Zero
Previous Post

Can China’s Rise To Power Be Peaceful? Here Is What Political Theories Tell Us

Next Post

Kamala: The Intersection of Race and Gender for Black Women in U.S. Politics

Charlotte Beauchamp

Charlotte Beauchamp

Charlotte is a former junior editor at Impakter. She is based in the UK and has a BA (Hons) degree in Journalism from the University of Kent. She is interested in health, equality and environmental issues and enjoys producing compelling, data driven stories.

Related Posts

Texas floods
Climate Change

The Science Behind Texas’ Catastrophic Floods

July 10, 2025
Climate disasters insurance
Business

Burned Out: How Privatised Risk Is Failing Victims of Climate Disasters

July 8, 2025
climate disinformation
Environment

Climate Disinformation Is Derailing Action: What Can Be Done?

July 7, 2025
Next Post
Kamala: The Intersection of Race and Gender for Black Women in U.S. Politics

Kamala: The Intersection of Race and Gender for Black Women in U.S. Politics

Recent News

Texas floods

The Science Behind Texas’ Catastrophic Floods

July 10, 2025
China Accounts For 74% of Global Solar and Wind Projects

China Accounts For 74% of Global Solar and Wind Projects

July 10, 2025
Nearly 2/3 of Europe’s Heatwave Deaths Linked to Human-Caused Global Warming

Nearly 2/3 of Europe’s Heatwave Deaths Linked to Human-Caused Global Warming

July 9, 2025

Impakter informs you through the ESG news site and empowers your business CSRD compliance and ESG compliance with its Klimado SaaS ESG assessment tool marketplace that can be found on: www.klimado.com

Registered Office Address

Klimado GmbH
Niddastrasse 63,

60329, Frankfurt am Main, Germany


IMPAKTER is a Klimado GmbH website

Impakter is a publication that is identified by the following International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is the following 2515-9569 (Printed) and 2515-9577 (online – Website).


Office Hours - Monday to Friday

9.30am - 5.00pm CEST


Email

stories [at] impakter.com

By Audience

  • TECH
    • Start-up
    • AI & MACHINE LEARNING
    • Green Tech
  • ENVIRONMENT
    • Biodiversity
    • Energy
    • Circular Economy
    • Climate Change
  • INDUSTRY NEWS
    • Entertainment
    • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Food and Agriculture
    • Health
    • Politics & Foreign Affairs
    • Philanthropy
    • Science
    • Sport
    • Editorial Series

ESG/Finance Daily

  • ESG News
  • Sustainable Finance
  • Business

Klimado Platform

  • Klimado ESG Tool
  • Impakter News

About Us

  • Team
  • Global Leaders
  • Partners
  • Write for Impakter
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© 2025 IMPAKTER. All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • FINANCE
    • ESG News
    • Sustainable Finance
    • Business
  • TECH
    • Start-up
    • AI & Machine Learning
    • Green Tech
  • Environment
    • Biodiversity
    • Climate Change
    • Circular Economy
    • Energy
  • Industry News
    • Entertainment
    • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Food and Agriculture
    • Health
    • Politics & Foreign Affairs
    • Philanthropy
    • Science
    • Sport
  • Editorial Series
    • SDGs Series
    • Shape Your Future
    • Sustainable Cities
      • Copenhagen
      • San Francisco
      • Seattle
      • Sydney
  • About us
    • Company
    • Team
    • Global Leaders
    • Partners
    • Write for Impakter
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy

© 2024 IMPAKTER. All rights reserved.