Global climate action from cities, regions and businesses
Since the Paris Climate Agreement solidified an “all hands on deck” approach to climate change, cities, regions and businesses have become key contributors to mitigation, adaptation and finance efforts. These actors are pledging a range of actions, from directly reducing their own greenhouse gas emissions footprints, to building capacity for climate adaptation and resilience to providing private finance. This report is the most comprehensive assessment of these non-state actor commitments to reduce greenhouse gases to date. The report focuses on 9 high-emitting countries – Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, and the United States – and the European Union. It analyses the efforts of more than 6,000 cities, states, and regions representing 7 percent of the global population and more than 2,000 companies with a combined revenue of over $21 trillion USD. Key results show that action by cities, states, regions and business can go a long way towards meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, but their actions alone are not enough to hold global temperature increase to well-below 2°C and work towards limiting it to 1.5° C.