127 Brazilian cities signatories of the Global Covenant of Mayors, encompassing a population of over 68 million people
Brazil now has a National Local Climate Action Strategy supported by the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, presented on June 20 at an event with the participation of local and national authorities and representatives from the European Union.
The National Local Climate Action Strategy in Brazil includes measures to support Brazilian cities and municipalities that are members of the Global Covenant of Mayors in implementing concrete climate actions over the next two years, thus contributing to the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change to limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The presentation of Brazil’s strategy, moderated by Eduardo Tadeu, Executive Director of the Brazilian Association of Municipalities (ABM), took place during the “Covenant in Action Week: Latin American Cities for Climate.” Strategies from Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Argentina were also presented.
The European Union will contribute over five million euros until 2025 to support these actions in the Latin American region. The funding will support the signatory cities of the Global Covenant of Mayors, the largest network of local governments committed to fighting climate change, with a combined global population of 243 million people.
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In 2022, Brazil’s national strategy will initially focus on raising awareness among signatory local governments to create conditions for the effective implementation of Covenant commitments. Currently, there are over 500 signatory cities of the GCoM in Latin America, with 127 of them being Brazilian, encompassing a population of over 68 million people.
Ignácio Ibáñez, Ambassador of the European Union Delegation in Brazil, outlined the goal of the strategies as “promoting exchange opportunities with European cities and partners to enhance experiences, learning, best practices, and, where possible, climate action-related business.” “Today we celebrate the launch of the National Covenant Strategy in Brazil, which, after a collaborative development and validation process among national and subnational actors, will be executed over the next two years with the support of the European Union.”
Rodrigo Corradi, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Local Governments for Sustainability Network (ICLEI South America), was responsible for presenting the planned actions for Brazilian municipalities.
As national challenges and objectives, Corradi listed two items: mobilizing cities and supporting progress toward a sustainable journey—through activities dedicated to improving technical support for municipalities advancing climate commitments. Corradi also stated that between 2022 and 2024, awareness-raising, training, implementation, and communication activities will be carried out. “Awareness and training are necessary to advance in this process, but implementation and communication are essential for deepening this cycle,” he assessed.
For awareness-raising activities, engagement workshops and Amazonian cities were planned. For training, there is a plan for a training cycle with mayors and technical teams, as well as mentoring for the development and financing of solar energy projects. For implementation activities, the plans include monitoring signatory cities of medium and small size and developing greenhouse gas inventories. Finally, for communication, an event to disseminate results with medal recognition was envisioned.
Ambassador Ignácio Ibáñez noted that in Brazil, the highest emitting cities are located in the Legal Amazon. Thus, according to Ibáñez, one opportunity is to focus on addressing climate change with a special focus on the Amazon region. “In Brazil, as well as in Peru and Colombia, we will dedicate specific efforts to engage directly with Amazonian cities,” Ibáñez concluded.
LED Technology
The city of Serra Talhada/PE joined the GCoM in 2018 under Mayor Luciano Duque’s administration and has since walked alongside other cities in Latin America and around the globe. As current Mayor Márcia Conrado states, the city began discussing “environmental policy, aligning with the Paris Agreement. We carried out the first greenhouse gas emissions inventory, which allowed us to have a holistic understanding of our municipality’s climate situation. This also showed our commitment to the GCoM. From that moment on, Serra Talhada has been viewed differently, not only by the administration but by the entire population. It has also become a reference for the entire region with much dedication and boldness,” she said.
The city has already replaced over 2,000 conventional light bulbs with LED bulbs and expects to have 100% of the city’s lighting converted by December. Traffic lights have also been upgraded to LED technology,” Conrado added. Another action from this administration is urban greening, which received prominence with its origin in the Municipal Urban Arborization Plan. The initial investment was in native trees, as well as greening squares and unused spaces in the city. The Serra Trees program has been effective, both in its implementation and as a highlight by the Covenant with Good Practices in Serra Talhada.
Revamping Transportation
The city of Santos boasts the sixth-highest Human Development Index (HDI) in Brazil, making quality of life one of its assets, as stated by Mayor Rogério Santos. “We are the 16th in national per capita GDP, meaning a city with very good consumption capacity. We are the top city in Brazil for basic sanitation, an important milestone already achieved,” he added.
One of Santos’ projects is creative villages. “We offer training courses in various fields, such as gastronomy, music, dance, crafts, technology, as a form of economic inclusion in our city’s creative economy, particularly for those with greater social vulnerability,” the mayor added.
Santos is also one of the cities with the highest number of cars in Brazil, with one car for every 2.98 inhabitants. Santos added: “It’s something very heavy, very challenging. We want to invest in quality and sustainable public transportation, using biodiesel. We need support for this public transportation reform in Santos, as we already have the VLT operating in the city and are expanding.”
Valentina Falkenstein, Coordinator of the Global Covenant of Mayors Helpdesk in the Americas, reflected on the participation of the two cities in the event. “Today we saw two clear examples of two very different cities, of various sizes, from different regions and contexts. Both are an inspiration for other cities to take concrete actions to address the climate crisis we are currently facing,” she said.
She concluded: “We will continue to support the efforts of municipal managers so that cities can increasingly advance in their commitments and contribute to the fight against climate change, which is becoming ever more urgent.”
More than 500 municipalities united in Latin America
The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy is a global alliance of over 12,500 cities and local governments in more than 140 countries, voluntarily committed to climate action, reducing their impacts, and facilitating access to sustainable and affordable energy for all. The Covenant was created in 2016 with the merger of the then-largest networks of mayors and cities working on climate and energy issues: the Compact of Mayors and Covenant of Mayors. Cities and municipalities are taking bold local actions and working together in a network to share innovative solutions that enable mayors to do more and faster. The GCoM invites new municipalities and cities to join this initiative.