Our world is on life support. Climate science shows we must make deep, civilization-wide changes by 2030 to limit a planetary catastrophe. This is a matter of survival, particularly for the most at-risk, but increasingly for every place and population on earth.
In 2022, some areas in the world hit record high temperatures and are suffering drought and wildfires while others are faced with flash floods. We are already living in a world where climate change-induced natural disasters are creating devastating impacts for our communities and ecosystems and unmanageable financial costs for local and regional governments.
International crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and Russian-Ukraine war have stalled broad-based, swift action to appropriately respond to the climate emergency but the urgency of our situation remains.
This session opens the high-level dialogues of Daring Cities 2022, addressing the critical moment the world finds itself in responding effectively and urgently to the climate emergency. Cities, towns and regions continue to find themselves on the front-line of this global crisis, yet they cannot tackle it alone. High-level discussants present their views on the state of the climate emergency and what they see as the best courses of action that all levels of government need to take to address the most pressing challenges head-on.
- Gino Van Begin(Speaker)ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, Secretary General
- Katja Dörner(Speaker)ICLEI Global Executive Committee Member, Mayor, City of Bonn, Germany; Host of Daring Cities
- Jochen Flasbarth(Speaker)Federal Ministry of Economic Development and Cooperation, Germany, State Secretary
- Debra Roberts(Speaker)IPCC Working Group II, Co-chair
- Ono Hiroshi(Speaker)Ministry of Environment, Japan, Vice-Minister for Global Environmental Affairs
- Luis Donaldo Colosio Riojas(Speaker)City of Monterrey, Mexico, Mayor