--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Why Global Climate Goals Rely on State and Local Power image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8842f634b946a9d1/6a4b5226d2f3f94977974070/20251104_group-photo_9593-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- # Why Global Climate Goals Rely on State and Local Power  Hundreds of mayors, governors, and regional leaders gathered at the 2025 COP30 Local Leaders Forum in Rio to showcase how local action is driving global climate progress. Hundreds of mayors, governors, and regional leaders gathered at the 2025 COP30 Local Leaders Forum in Rio to showcase how local action is driving global climate progress. Before the world’s heads of state gather at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025, a major pre-event will set the stage for what’s to come – one that may well shape the future of global climate progress. The [COP30 Local Leaders Forum (LLF)](https://www.bloomberg.org/cop30-local-leaders-forum/ "undefined"), co-hosted by the COP30 Presidency and Bloomberg Philanthropies, will bring together thousands of mayors, governors, and officials from around the world to demonstrate how local leaders are already building momentum for the negotiations in Belém. Together, they will lay out a shared agenda for national governments and multilateral institutions that showcases opportunities for partnership, practical solutions, and the pressing need to unlock financing to advance their ambition. At the core of the Forum is a Joint Statement of Support outlining three clear commitments that local governments are making to accelerate global climate progress, and a call for national leaders to match the same level of resolve. The Statement is both the realization of years of local climate leadership and a new turning point for multilateral collaboration. ## A Decade of Local Momentum For more than a decade, the local climate leadership movement has transformed the way how the world approaches climate governance. The foundation was laid in 2012 at Rio+20, where Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, joined Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes in calling for cities to be included in international climate negotiations. It marked a quiet revolution: an acknowledgment that urban areas – where the majority of emissions originate and where most people live – hold the keys to implementation. By COP21 in Paris in 2015, this idea had taken root. The Climate Summit for Local Leaders, co-hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, drew together more than 1,000 mayors, regional representatives, and other officials at the time. Their leadership helped embed local climate action into the fabric of the Paris Agreement, creating a lasting signal that national commitments are only as strong as the local policies that bring them to life. The momentum continued at COP28 in Dubai in 2023, where the Local Climate Action Summit (LCAS) launched CHAMP, the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships, and mobilized $470 million in new support for local implementation. That gathering represented the most significant acknowledgment yet that local leaders are indispensable partners in achieving national and global climate goals. Since then, over 75 countries – representing 35% of the global population, 37% of emissions, and 65% of global GDP – have pledged to partner with local governments to meet national climate targets.  ## The Next Evolution: From Ambition to Action The COP30 Local Leaders Forum in Rio de Janeiro (Nov. 3-5, 2025) builds directly on this legacy. But it also signifies a shift from advocacy to action. With more than 14,000 local leaders represented, the Forum will showcase an extraordinary pipeline of over 2,500 investable climate projects, spanning clean energy, resilient infrastructure, urban transport, waste management, and nature-based solutions. These are not abstract ideas; they are shovel-ready projects designed to deliver measurable emissions reductions, create jobs, and improve quality of life. Yet many remain stalled by barriers in financing, policy alignment, and scale. That’s where the power of multilevel collaboration becomes essential. As nations finalize their next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, subnational leaders are demonstrating how ambition can morph into reality, offering models for national governments to adopt and expand upon. By aligning local and national priorities, they can help unlock the trillions in investment needed to reach global climate targets.  ## Local Leadership: The Engine of Multilateralism The Joint Statement to be presented in Rio calls for a new pact between levels of government: one that recognizes cities, states, and regions as co-creators of climate policy, not just local actors. This approach represents an evolved form of multilateralism – one grounded in results, not rhetoric. It acknowledges that while the Paris Agreement was negotiated by nations, it is delivered by networks of local implementers. And those networks are increasingly sophisticated, collaborative, and capable of attracting global investment. From data-driven emissions tracking to innovative public-private partnerships, mayors and governors are proving that progress doesn’t depend on waiting for consensus. It depends on leadership at all levels. Leaders – building trust across borders, aligning with investors, and driving accountability from the ground up – are the engines of change. Bloomberg Philanthropies, which has supported these efforts for over ten years, continues to act as a core catalyst, helping local governments gather data, set science-based targets, and connect with financial institutions ready to fund their projects. Through initiatives such as C40 Cities, the Under2 Coalition, the Global Covenant of Mayors, and partnerships with COP Presidencies, the organization has established a global infrastructure for local climate action that is now impossible to ignore.  ## Unlocking Finance, Scaling Impact A central theme of the COP30 Local Leaders Forum will be the implementation of finance. While political ambition has grown steadily since 2015, climate financing has not always reached the communities best positioned to deploy it. Local leaders are bringing forward solutions to change that – from innovative green bonds and blended finance mechanisms, to aligning city projects with national investment pipelines. This focus on finance is not solely about the money; it’s about scale. Every successful local project has the potential to become a national or global model. By bridging the gap between local action and global capital, leaders can unlock exponential progress – turning pilot ideas into portfolios, and commitments into measurable impact.  ## A Call to Match Local Ambition The message from Rio will be clear: local leaders are ready. They have the plans, the drive, the partnerships, and the projects. What they need now is national and international alignment to match their pace. For COP30 negotiators and national policymakers, the Local Leaders Forum is both an opportunity and a challenge – to recognize that the path to global climate success runs through cities, states, and territories. These local leaders are not waiting for permission; they are already delivering the future that the Paris Agreement outlined. In many ways, the story of local climate leadership is the story of climate progress itself. It is a movement built not only on ideology but on results – rooted in the belief that practical action, shared data, and community engagement can achieve what politics alone cannot. As the world gathers in Brazil, that belief will take center stage once again. The Local Leaders Forum embodies what’s possible when ambition is shared and action is localized – it's a reminder that the solutions to the planet’s most complex challenges are already taking shape, one community at a time.  [Learn more](https://www.bloomberg.org/cop30-local-leaders-forum) Why Global Climate Goals Rely on State and Local Power ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/bloomberg-philanthropies/why-global-climate-goals-rely-on-state-and-local-power/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/bloomberg-philanthropies/why-global-climate-goals-rely-on-state-and-local-power/"},"headline":"Why Global Climate Goals Rely on State and Local Power","datePublished":"2026-06-18T14:28:33.869Z","dateModified":"2026-05-25T07:35:21.772Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/branded-content/bloomberg-philanthropies/why-global-climate-goals-rely-on-state-and-local-power/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/bloomberg-philanthropies/why-global-climate-goals-rely-on-state-and-local-power/","name":"Why Global Climate Goals Rely on State and Local Power"}}]}] ```