The 2020 municipal elections present a significant opportunity to discuss priorities for cities in the next four years. With the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent discussions about an inclusive economic recovery that is compatible with environmental challenges, it is urgent that this debate also incorporates urban issues and the particularities of implementation of these recovery measures by the cities. Consequently, less than two months before the municipal elections, the Institute for Climate and Society (iCS), together with over 20 civil society organizations and other institutions, have collectively produced an Urban Climate Agenda, with 10 priority actions for the level local. The proposals and developments are available at: www.agendaurbanadoclima.com

The Urban Climate Agenda is one of the presentations of the Subnational Platform for the Climate, which is an initiative that has the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies. Started in July 2020, the platform began with urgent challenges for the context of the Brazilian climate action: to strengthen the networks that operate in the subnational sphere; to generate scale for local actions; and to contribute to the increase of the ambition of states and municipalities in their climate commitments.

Although in the conception stage, in addition to the Urban Climate Agenda, the initiative has already developed pilot projects that validate the importance of its existence to the subnational context. Among them, an initial survey of the level of subnational operation of civil society organizations and other institutions; and the coordination of actors and grantees of the Institute for Climate and Society (iCS) who operate on a subnational level for the panels at Climate Week New York City.

Among the next presentations, a mapping of the financing flow of project for the climate at the subnational level and the construction of the website for the coordination and creation of a database is envisaged. And the initiative is only just beginning!