Municipalities from Peru, Chile, and Ecuador Participate in GCoM Training Workshop
The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) training brought together 26 municipalities and the National Coordinators from Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and Ecuador at the First National Coordinators Workshop. The sessions focused on the initiative’s objectives, methodologies for producing Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs), and aligning these plans with the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of respective countries—commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This activity was an opportunity to build the capacities of member cities and organizations involved in fulfilling their commitments to the GCoM.
Representatives from GCoM National Coordinators and Municipalities in Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia
Organized by the International Urban Cooperation Program for Latin America and the Caribbean (IUC-LAC) from August 20-23 in Lima, Peru, the event also highlighted the sustainable urban development efforts of 10 flagship cities. The strategies employed by these cities in aligning their climate action plans with their countries’ NDCs serve as a roadmap for other cities to implement their commitments.
Flagship Cities
Cities with exemplary actions in the fight against climate change were featured in the workshop. Representatives from the municipalities of Trujillo and San Isidro (Peru), Santiago and Providencia (Chile), and Puerto Viejo and Cuenca (Ecuador) shared their experiences, progress, and main challenges at the local level. Addressing adaptation challenges in Trujillo, Katerin Bustinza highlighted the Province’s multi-institutional actions, such as collecting and processing technical information and forming a Thematic Recovery Table for River Channels and Marginal Strips in response to the 2017 El Niño Coastal phenomenon, which significantly impacted various districts in Trujillo Province.
Contributions
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, an independent body providing scientific and technical support to the development, implementation, and monitoring of the GCoM, played a pivotal role. Silvia Rivas Calvete, a JRC expert responsible for adapting GCoM methodologies, emphasized that local action is key to making meaningful and feasible climate change progress.
Practical Session with Part of the Peruvian Delegation
“Cities are part of the problem, so they must also be part of the solution. This is an opportunity to drive change,” Silvia said. “If all the cities already part of the GCoM achieve their goals, they alone would reduce much more than all of Europe and the United States combined in their 2030 objectives,” she added.
The climate governance component of the EUROCLIMA+ program, a European Union initiative supporting the implementation of climate commitments under the Paris Agreement, provided participants with a module on territorial localization of NDCs, vertical integration of NDCs, and establishing a regional methodology.
EUROCLIMA+ Presentation
Commitment to the Global Covenant of Mayors
The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) is a global alliance of cities and local governments voluntarily committed to combating climate change, reducing its unavoidable impacts, and facilitating access to sustainable and affordable energy for all.
After committing to the initiative, cities are expected to conduct climate studies to assess their environmental situation. Subsequently, each city sets its greenhouse gas reduction targets and, with GCoM’s support, implements an action plan to achieve those goals.
To learn more about this initiative and how your city can join the GCoM, visit our website.
