G20 should act on the Climate Crisis and enable local action for resilience

Hamburg, June 23^rd, 2021. Representatives of a number of leading Community Foundations across the globe called today upon the G20 to act on the climate crisis, referring to the recent period of global vulnerability resulting from the pandemic that has impacted many cities and communities. In a joint open letter to the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, signatories stress that the COVID-19 pandemic has proved that intact local infrastructure networks are essential for any effective response. The letter further states that the pandemic will only be one of many constraints that cities and communities face, unless climate action is placed at the top of the international decision making agenda. Increasing the resilience of cities and communities has to be a priority goal for multilateral decision making.

• Alignment of all measures with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals and their implementation by cities and communities.
• Consistency and functionality of essential public services within the cities and communities as well as equal access to common goods and basic needs such as housing, water, and energy etc.
• Support of local and regional governments and their associations on all levels to adapt to unavoidable climate impacts including access to finance, technical and medical support, as well as climate resilient spatial planning.
• Clear mandate for cities and communities to harvest the potential of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies across all sectors, in order to mitigate their contribution to the global climate crisis.