Nearly a decade after the Paris Agreement, delegations from around the world will convene in Baku, Azerbaijan from 11–22 November 2024 for the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The annual event provides an international forum to advance collective action on climate change and engage a wide range of stakeholders beyond UNFCCC member states, including climate scientists, the private sector, civil society, and youths.
With the theme In Solidarity for a Green World, COP29 aims to advance 14 global initiatives that centre on critical topics including climate finance, green energy, peace and climate action, human development, agriculture, waste management, resilient cities, climate action in tourism, water, and global climate transparency.
Most of the conference sessions will have a thematic focus on these topics, as well as the national climate plans (NDCs) that countries are developing ahead of the 2025 deadline.
Cities Alliance strongly supports efforts to reduce the vulnerability of cities and communities to climate change.
We will have a visible presence at COP29 to reinforce a key message: Global climate action must include the urban poor, who are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
The urban poor, and women in particular, have the potential to be important allies in national and local mitigation efforts and are critical to the success of global agendas.
Cities Alliance will ensure this message is heard in the four events we are co-organizing with partners and by contributing to numerous panel discussions. The four events will highlight our current work in climate action, which focuses on supporting inclusive planning, providing basic services and infrastructure, and developing local capacities to understand risks and plan, finance, and implement actions.
Cities Alliance offers integrated solutions combining climate change mitigation, adaptation, and disaster risk management while promoting the urban poor as custodians of the urban environment and agents of resilience.
EXPLORE OUR PROGRAMME
Events we are hosting or co-hosting with partners:
16 November, 11:15-12:00. Innovation and Informality: Community-led Climate Action in Cities. This event gathers various voices on community-led climate action, focusing on why climate action in informal settlements should be high on the agenda. The session will also highlight the importance of acknowledging and supporting innovation championed by local actors and youth, who rarely receive much recognition.
19 November, 9:30-10:30. Cities for Her: Gender-inclusive Water, Energy, Food, and Ecosystems (WEFE) Climate Solutions. This event will launch the new publication Her4WEFE: Gender Perspectives on Urban Water, Energy, Food, and Ecosystems and highlight practical tools and methodologies for applying a gender-sensitive approach to the WEFE nexus in cities. It gathers representatives from the urban development sector, donor organizations, and government officials to discuss current challenges and opportunities integrating a gender-sensitive approach in climate action, and more specifically the WEFE nexus.
19 November, 13:00-13:40. How Much (or Little) Climate Finance is Reaching the Urban Poor? The event will launch a new publication by Cities Alliance, Climate Finance for the Urban Poor: A Review of the Global Climate Funds, and draw attention to the insufficient amount of climate finance targeting the urban poor. Diverse voices representing the urban development sector, donor organizations, and civil society who work closely with the urban poor will discuss some of the challenges as well as how effective climate action can be when informality and the urban poor are at the centre of these efforts.
20 November, 17:00-18:00. Community-led Climate Adaptation and Action in Informal Settlements (online). The event will share experiences of locally-led climate adaptation and sustainable construction initiatives following a recent peer learning exchange with SDI federations from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, which formed part of Cities Alliance’s Building Resilience in Informal Settlements Programme. It provides much-needed perspective from developing countries, and particularly the most vulnerable communities, which are affected the most by climate change.
Events we are contributing to:
Friday, 15 November
- 15:45–16:45. Resilience Innovation in Informality through Scaling Entrepreneurship and Driving Finance, hosted by SDI.
Wednesday, 20 November
- 10:30–11:30. Shelter and Equity: An Inclusive Dialogue on Disasters and Housing Improvements, hosted by Build Change.
Thursday, 21 November
- 9:00–11:00. Special Session on Informality, hosted by Climate Champions.
