Excellencies and Colleagues,
Welcome to the Cities and Regions summit, taking place ahead of the seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, or UNEA-7. At UNEA-7, the focus will be on advancing sustainable solutions for a resilient planet. We desperately need such solutions. Because global environmental challenges are intensifying.
We see the impacts in accelerating climate change and record heatwaves. UNEPs 2025 Emissions Gap report finds that the rise in average global temperatures will likely exceed 1.5C within the next decade. We need massive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to minimize the overshoot, all while investing in adaptation.
We see the impacts in disappearing ecosystems and degrading land, with impacts for livelihoods, food security and resilience. We see the impacts in toxins that pollute our air, water and soil, claiming millions of lives each year.
These are global threats that demand global consensus. But the solutions will be local with cities and regions at the heart of action. Because let us not forget that 60 per cent of SDG targets and 70 per cent of climate solutions hinge on local action.
So, we need to support the many cities that are already becoming mitigation, adaptation and resilience hubs through low-carbon buildings; through natural cooling infrastructure and heat-resilient design; through food-resilient planning and stormwater systems; through freshwater protection and urban nature restoration. We can do this while providing affordable, sustainable and climate-resilient housing for billions of people.
The solutions do exist. Many of you are implementing them. From climate-smart building design and sustainable materials to passive cooling to letting nature back into our concrete jungles. And we are seeing momentum building on such solutions, most recently at COP 30. You have been front runners in this process.
The endorsement of the Belm Call for Action on Sustainable and Affordable Housing by the UNEP-hosted Intergovernmental Council for Buildings and Climate was a step forward. And the Beat the Heat Implementation Drive, launched by the UNEP-led Cool Coalition and COP 30 Presidency, is set to support over 200 cities and bridge gaps in policy, finance and delivery of heat resilience and urban cooling.
The question we now face is how to build on this momentum to start delivering real progress at city and regional level. Please allow me to offer three points in this regard, which essentially reinforce what you have come here to discuss in the thematic sessions.
My first point is that we must lean on nature.
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are particularly cost-effective across all aspects of environmental crises. When cities integrate natural systems into the built environment such as through wetland restoration, urban forests, and green and blue infrastructure they can lower temperatures by up to 4C, reduce energy costs by up to 30 per cent, filter pollutants to improve air quality, and shield communities from floods and storm surges. We are seeing this in action, from Medelln to Singapore.
Despite these advantages, however, only a tiny fraction of urban planning and investments currently supports nature-positive infrastructure.
This leads me to my second point, which is that we must shift financing to nature-positive, climate-resilient urban development.
According to the 2023 State of Finance for Nature report, almost US$7 trillion flows into nature-negative activities per year. Annual NbS investments must almost triple by 2030 to meet global goals on biodiversity, climate and land.
At the same time, UNEPs 2025 Adaptation Gap report tells us that current international adaptation finance to developing countries is a fraction of the US$310365 billion that will be needed annually by 2035.
The money to close these finance gaps is there. Cities generate over 80 per cent of global GDP. And cities like Paris and Johannesburg are already using green bonds to unlock private capital for climate-smart infrastructure. However, unlocking the full potential of financing for local action requires some fundamental shifts.
Policy makers can grant local governments direct access to climate finance. They can establish pooled financing mechanisms to support smaller municipalities. Deploy blended finance models that leverage public funds to attract private capital. Reform the global financial architecture to ensure that nature-positive investments are mainstreamed, by recognizing the long-term cost savings and return on investment they bring.
International partners and the private sector, meanwhile, can simplify access to finance and scale partnerships for integrated urban solutions.
And we must make the case for such financing, which is why UNEP and partners have developed the Urban NbS Framework to help cities integrate nature into financial planning and quantify the natural dividend for every dollar invested.
In this regard, the upcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change special report on cities and climate change will be important, as it will generate knowledge, science and data we can use to make the case for action.
My third point is that we must boost multi-level governance to make Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) work on the ground.
Everyone here knows that effective multi-level governance mechanisms and adequate frameworks can improve policy coherence, implementation and accountability, and spur local implementation of integrated solutions across MEAs.
MEAs are increasingly citing cities and regions as key actors as we saw in the Belm Policy Package and in the Global Biodiversity Framework target 12, which calls for enhancing green spaces and urban planning for human well-being and biodiversity. UNEP supports this in many ways and will continue to do so.
But we need more national governments to include cities in their Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans and NBSAPs with the clear involvement of cities in shaping such framing documents and more autonomy in implementation towards targets. And we need to increase coordination between global deals, which is of course the focus of the dedicated day on MEAs next week.
Excellencies,
What happens in cities shapes the world. And what happens in this room can shape what happens in cities and in the halls of national governments. UNEP is providing this space so that the voices of cities and sub-national entities carry into UNEA.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and recommendations on how to increase multi-level governance and unlock the finance we need to create vibrant, low-carbon, nature-positive cities.
