WEBINAR SERIES

'THE RESPONSE OF LOCAL GOVERNANCE TO THE GLOBAL CLIMATE EMERGENCY'

The Webinar 'The Response of Local Governance to the Global Climate Emergency' is promoted by the IGU Commission on the Geography of Governance as part of its Action Plan on 'Local Governance and Climate Emergency: Strategies, Plan, Actions, Outcomes, Impacts. A Worldwide Survey and Comparison' .

It takes place on 8 November 2022, 13:00 (UTC) on the Zoom Platform [see UTC time here, and compare it with your local time: https://time.is/UTC ]

The IGU Commission on Geography of Governance Action Plan on 'Local Governance and Climate Emergency' is an international collaborative research platform that seeks to survey, examine, and compare the responses of local government to the global climate emergency. It seeks to collect and to curate a list of resources related to the strategies, plans, policy measures, and actions taken by local government, across the globe, towards the Climate Emergency, and its outcomes and impacts.

The "IGU-CGoG Action Plan on Climate Emergency" has three main goals:

1. First, it aims to collect evidence of the strategies, plans, policy measures, and actions taken by local government around the world towards the Climate Emergency, making it available for those engaged in the design of future local government actions.

2. Second, to promote joint comparative research on the responses of local government towards Climate Emergency, its outcomes and impacts, and lessons for the future, to be carried out by members of the IGU Commission on Geography of Governance, and other interested partners.

3. Third, to present, discuss, and publish the outcomes of the comparative research on the worldwide responses of local government towards the Climate Emergency, in conferences, specific meetings and/or panels, as well as in publications, as part of the activity plan of the IGU Commission on Geography of Governance.

The IGU-CGoG Action Plan on 'Local Governance and Climate Emergency' seeks to address, but is not limited to, the following research questions:

I. Local Government Mitigation Policy - Reducing GHG Emissions

1. To what extent the current Local Government policies reflect the ambition of the Paris Agreement, namely the ambition of national government commitments to achieve its Paris Agreement goals?

2. What has been the path followed by Local Government for a low-carbon transition? What strategies and policy measures have been adopted by Local Government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

3. What has been the role of Local Government in the promotion of universal access to clean energies?

II. Local Government Adaptation Policy - Responding to Climate Change Impacts

4. What strategies, plans, policy measures, and actions have been adopted by local government to address Climate Change impacts on the environment, society and on the local economy?

5. What strategies, plans, policy measures, and actions are local government employing to address the socially unequal impacts of Climate Change? And how equitable have been climate change mitigation and adaptation policies implemented by Local Government?

6. What sort of accelerated adaptation policies have been implemented by Local Government to face the higher temperatures, the altered weather patterns, the more frequent extreme weather events, and the related economic losses?

7. What has been the response of Local Government to the rising average temperatures and to the altered rainfall patterns, in particular in tackling the food and water insecurity in certain regions of the world?

III. Local Government Institutions, Finance and Policy Arrangements

8. What changes have been introduced in central-local relations (decentralization / re-centralization) and what innovations in multi-level governance have been tried to tackle more effectively the Climate Emergency?

9. What has been the role of inter-municipal cooperation and metropolitan governance in this context?

10. As Climate Change does not respect national borders, what sort of coordinate response has been implemented by Local Government through cross-border municipal and regional cooperation? How is it reflected in Local Government climate change adaptation policies?

11. What lessons from current local government engagement in multi-scalar and cross-sectoral coordination in the context of Climate Change mitigation and adaptation policies?

12. How can Local Government mobilise the financial resources necessary for an effective response to the climate emergency? And what capacity have Local Finance Systems to support the required substantial and sustained investment in a low carbon transition?

13. What will be the impact of the borrowing Local Government have had to resort during the Covid-19 pandemic on their capacity to sustain the energy transition and the move towards a low-carbon economy?

14. How do local governments address multiple global challenges concurrently (Covid-19 Pandemic; Biodiversity Crisis; Climate Emergency...)?

15. How is Local Government Post-Covid 19 Recovery policy related to the policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Or is it mainly a carbon-intensive local government recovery policy?