Ugandan leaders sign commitment to faster climate action

Lukwago led the Ugandan delegation

Ugandan leaders joined other local and regional leaders from around the world to sign the Bonn-Fiji Commitment on Sunday at their UN Climate Change Conference summit to take further, faster action to deliver the Paris Agreement at all levels of government.

The ceremony took place on Sunday at 23^rd UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP23) currently taking place in Bonn.

The Ugandan delegation was led by Elias Lukwago, the Lord Mayor of Kampala, Vincent De Paul Kayanja, the mayor of Entebbe Municipality, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) mayor Emmanuel Serunjoji and his wife Margaret Serunjoji and Joseph Lomonyang, vice-president Uganda Local Government Association.

According to the carbon climate registry, KCCA has committed to reduce its Green House Gas (GHG) emissions by 22% by 2030, committed to increase its consumption of energy from renewable energy sources in local government by 109500 MWh by 2020 and also committed to increase its energy efficiency in primary energy and local government energy consumption by 50% by 2020 compared to 2015 levels.

However, no other cities from Uganda have registered with the carbonn climate registry, the global reporting platform for cities, towns and regions tackling climate change which was created to support transparency, accountability and credibility.

With more than half the global population living in cities and expected to approach two thirds by 2050, the Bonn Fiji commitment of local and regional leaders to deliver the Paris Agreement pushes forward efforts to advance sustainable urban development as an integral part of urgent global climate action and the inter-linked goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This is particularly focused around Sustainable Development Goal 11 - to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

"City and regional governments are pushing ahead, with an acute sense of their role in building a resilient, low carbon society," said Ashok Sridharan, Lord Mayor of Bonn, Germany and first vice-president of ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability.

""Urban areas will play an influential role in the course of global development. By making urban sustainability a core part of national climate action, countries will be in a better position to meet and exceed their national climate goals."

The commitment encompasses 19 initiatives, listed below, including the European covenant of mayors and compact of mayors joining forces to create the global covenant of mayors for climate & energy - the largest coalition of over 7,400 cities from six continents and 121 countries to reduce emissions and make societies and economies resilient to climate change.

Cities are responsible for as much as 70% of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels used for energy and transport and 13% of the global urban population lives in vulnerable low-elevation coastal areas.

As of today, more than 1,000 local and regional governments from 86 countries, representing over 800 million people, have reported emissions reduction targets on the carbon climate registry, which, once achieved, would result in a reduction of 5.6 gigatons of CO2 equivalent (GtCO2e) by 2020 and 26.8 GtCO2e by 2050.

This week in Bonn, cities and regions have not been alone in rallying behind urban action. The climate summit of local and regional leaders, hosted by the City of Bonn and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Marrakech Partnership Global Climate Action Agenda SDG 11 Day featured ministers and business leaders alongside mayors and city representatives.