Regional Climate Weeks may be on hold, momentum must continue

Climate change is not just a global issue to be discussed and negotiated in annual conferences or COPs; it is a daily, lived reality for billions of people worldwide. The cancellation of this year's Regional Climate Weeks by the UN Climate Change secretariat due to substantial funding shortages from country members is more than a logistical hiccup—it is a significant setback in our collective effort to combat climate change effectively.?

Regional Climate Weeks are not just localised spin-offs of the annual COPs, they have a different nature. These are not country-led negotiation meetings like the annual climate conferences but implementation-focused gatherings where a growing number of actors discuss and showcase solutions and forge strategies and partnerships at the local and regional levels, where they are needed most.

Brief history

Originally the climate weeks were held as regional carbon forums to increase participation in the UN Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) which was a carbon emissions reduction trading system between developed and developing countries set up in the Kyoto Protocol.

With the CDM rapidly fading out after the adoption of the Paris Agreement the focus of these weeks moved from carbon markets to more direct climate action and the growing need for support from developing countries to develop and implement implementation their climate plans formally known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).?

That is how, in 2017 the carbon forums organising partners under the Nairobi Framework decided to evolve the meetings into regional climate weeks.?

Key platforms for action

This is how these meetings moved from small gatherings of a few hundred government officials, international civil servants and carbon markets experts to the big regional conferences that we saw in 2023. According to UNFCCC, the four 2023 regional climate weeks held in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, MENA and Asia-Pacific gathered 26,000 participants in 900 sessions.

In these sessions, a growing number of non-State and non-IGOs actors meet to discuss and partner. Apart from governments and UN agencies, more and more organizations from the civil society, private sector, banks, investors, researchers, indigenous peoples, youth and gender constituencies representatives flow to the regional climate weeks as the-place-to-be to talk about concrete climate action without the rush, the logistical challenges and competing demands for attention that one faces at the big annual COP.?

The regional climate weeks are platforms for anchoring the climate problem and solutions in the regions and they help connect the dots between the formal UNFCCC process and the decisions that are made at the COPs and their implementation in the “real world”, including mobilising the necessary means which are capacity building, technology and financial support to make the climate plans under the Paris Agreement happen.?

Apart from the COP and New York City Climate Week, which has a strong focus on the United States and the business sector, the regional climate weeks are the most relevant platforms the world currently has to discuss and advance climate action, especially in the Global South and emerging economies.

Mobilising resources while keeping momentum

The suspension of the 2024 Regional Climate Weeks is particularly concerning because it interrupts this flow of crucial conversations and collaborations. It risks sidelining the voices of those most affected by climate change, especially in the Global South, where the impact is profound and the need for adaptation and mitigation strategies is urgent.?

The lack of funding, as UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell pointed out, reflects the world's skewed priorities at a time when enhanced cooperation and investment are desperately needed. Stiell’s call for urgent financial support highlights a severe funding shortfall that threatens to undermine these critical platforms for climate dialogue and action.

At 10 Billion Solutions, we have witnessed how critical the regional climate weeks are to drive effective climate action on the ground and make the whole discussion inclusive and meaningful to citizens. Today, we urge all those with power, influence and money to step up and support the UN Climate Change secretariat so that the regional climate weeks can be resumed.

In the meantime, we must keep transformational climate conversations going through meaningful in-person, hybrid and virtual gatherings. We, at 10 Billion Solutions, remain more committed than ever to this cause and will participate in and put together climate discussions to humbly contribute to raising the momentum through impactful climate communications.

Through our work as climate communicators we strive to bridge the gap between global promises and local realities, between abstract problems and concrete solutions.

Join us on 7 May for a 1-hour free webinar: “Introduction to Climate Change Communications”. Register here.

You can also read this article in French and in Spanish.