Stronger national climate plans through multilevel action
Running from 16 to 18 June in Bonn, Germany, alongside the UNFCCC SB62 sessions, the sixth edition of the Daring Cities 2025 Bonn Dialogues served as a mid-year platform for local and regional leaders to take stock, exchange insights, and mobilize action toward and beyond COP30.
Designed for interaction, knowledge exchange, and co-creation, the Bonn Dialogues reflected the inclusive, participatory, multilevel approach that Daring Cities embodies: Amplifying the voices of bold leaders tackling the climate emergency on the ground. While the SBs focus on negotiations, Daring Cities is all about action.
How does this come to life? Watch our recap video, where bold leaders share their insights on the much-needed multilevel climate action, not only to face climate change, but to thrive in spite of it.
The Bonn Dialogues unfolded with a three-day agenda, convening representatives from all levels of government, together with key actors in the urban climate space.
We kicked off with two days of high-level engagement in several events at the SB62 Climate Talks, including the second CHAMP UNFCCC Focal Points Dialogue.
On 18 June, our full-day event, Insights for Multilevel Action, welcomed 170 delegates from over 28 countries, spanning every global region, to exchange on how to foster stronger national climate plans through multilevel action.
On 16 June, the first-ever Annual Review of Local and Subnational Action on the Rio Conventions marked a new space for local and subnational voices to reflect on and help shape the future of climate, biodiversity, and land governance.
Building on the success of the first CHAMP endorsers roundtable in 2024, on 17 June, the 2nd CHAMP UNFCCC Focal Point Dialogue provided a platform for national government endorsers and their strategic partners to assess progress and guide CHAMP’s implementation toward COP30.
High-level panels, deep dives into localizing national climate plans—with a special focus on the Town Hall COP Initiative—and interactive roundtables on engaging science and business in the climate response were among the key highlights of Insights for Multilevel Action on 18 June. The event underscored the vital role of partnerships in delivering not just ambitious plans but tangible climate action for a thriving future.
“Daring Cities continues bringing together local and regional leaders with national policy makers to shape stronger climate plans ahead of COP30.”
Katja Dörner
Lord Mayor, Federal City of Bonn, Germany
Chair of ICLEI’s Climate Action Governance Portfolio
This panel introduced Daring Cities with special emphasis on the 2025 theme: “Stronger national climate plans through multilevel action”
The panel featured the following speakers:
Moderator: Kobie Brand, Regional Director, ICLEI Africa and ICLEI Deputy Secretary General
This panel addressed the challenges to advancing multilevel action presented by increasingly nationalistic approaches to domestic policy in several influential countries.
The panel featured the following speakers:
Moderator: Asif Nawaz Shah, Head of Impact and Global Partnerships, CHAMP, Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM)
This year our event featured Country Deep Dive breakout groups, focusing on North America, Brazil, and South Africa, as well as a Deep Dive into Town Hall COPs around the globe. These conversations focused on the latest round of NDCs and comparisons to the previous NDCs.
These deep dives included inputs from the following speakers:
This panel grouped together diverse representatives from business to finance to research into how to build better partnerships for climate emergency policy implementation.
The panel featured the following speakers:
Moderator: Cerin Kizhakkethottam, Special Advisor, UN-Habitat
This panel closed the morning’s high level dialogues and looks forward to the action needed over the coming weeks and months in the lead up to COP30.
The panel featured the following speakers:
Moderator: Rodrigo Corradi, Deputy Director, ICLEI South America
The roundtables were structured around two key mobilizing themes:
Table 1 looked at the role of grey literature in shaping the IPCC SR-Cities Report
Table 2 engaged in data-driven decision making.
Table 3 engaged in accelerating energy efficiency.
Table 4 discussed financing NBS for climate resilience adaptation.
Roundtable 1 featured the following speakers:
Co-Facilitators: Simone Sandholz, Head of Urban Futures and Sustainability Transformation Programme, United Nations
University – Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) & Aikaterini Karapantsiou, Policy Advisor – LOUIS, GIZ
Chair: Pourya Salehi, Head of Urban Research, Innovation, and Development, ICLEI
Roundtable 2 featured the following speakers:
Facilitator: Maryke van Staden, Director, carbonn Climate Center
Roundtable 3 featured the following speakers:
Facilitator: Giorgia Rambelli, Director Mission Innovation Urban Transitions Mission, GCoM
Roundtable 4 featured the following speakers:
Facilitator: Natalia Salazar, Head of Innovative Finance, ICLEI
Report from Roundtables and closing arguments from Yunus Arikan and further reflections from Axel Grael, Strategic Sustainability and Climate Advisor at the Mayor’s Office, City of Niterói, Brazil
Moderated by Alyssa Chenault