Town Hall COPs: Connecting climate action at all levels

Town Hall COPs: A new era of local-to-global climate action

As cities around the world confront the accelerating impacts of the climate emergency, local leadership is proving essential to driving meaningful change. Daring Cities proudly supports the Town Hall COP Initiative—an inclusive, action-oriented model that empowers communities to connect their climate priorities to national and international processes. By creating space for dialogue among residents, local governments, and national representatives, Town Hall COPs elevate community voices and help align local action with global climate goals. Our shared vision is rooted in multilevel collaboration, equity, and transformation—and we are honored to champion the Town Hall COP approach as a vital tool in building just, resilient, and sustainable urban futures.

What are Town Hall COPs?

A Town Hall COP is a locally organized, community-driven event that brings people together to discuss climate priorities, showcase local action, and connect with national and global climate goals. Inspired by the structure of the UN Climate Change Conferences (COPs), each Town Hall COP is designed to reflect the unique needs and voices of the hosting community—whether it’s a small town, a major city, or a regional network.

These events are built on three core principles:

  • Community-led: Rooted in local context and inclusive of diverse voices
  • Nationally relevant: Linked to national climate plans (NDCs) and policies
  • Transformation-oriented: Focused on real-world connections between climate and daily life—such as health, jobs, equity, and nature

Town Hall COPs can take many forms—from public forums to workshops to roundtables—and are open to co-leadership by local governments, community groups, universities, youth networks, and more. The outcomes of these events are shared with national authorities and elevated to the global stage through the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) Constituency to the UNFCCC, ensuring that local insights influence national climate commitments and international climate negotiations.

By participating in or hosting a Town Hall COP, communities help shape a more inclusive and grounded global climate response—one conversation at a time.

In 2023, Rosario was one of the 26 cities across 18 countries -and the only municipality in Latin America- to host a local stocktake

The path from local stocktakes to Town Hall COPs

In 2023, over 20 local governments across six continents held “local stocktakes” to support the Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement. Led by ICLEI as the focal point of the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) Constituency, this local stocktake pilot exercise underscored the value of multilevel collaboration, influencing COP28 in Dubai, where the UAE Consensus encouraged enhanced national commitments to multilevel climate action. 

In parallel, 72 countries joined the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP), pledging to integrate local and regional governments to collectively pursue efforts for the next round of submitting revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) due in 2025 at COP30.

ICLEI is now building on this momentum by advancing the local stocktake experience into Town Hall COPs, which will enable communities to refine and advance their climate goals while connecting directly to national and global action. In these gatherings, local leaders, public officials, and community members will discuss their climate emergency declarations, explore paths to climate neutrality, and contribute their insights to inform national climate plans. The outcomes of these Town Hall COPs will feed into NDC 3.0 at COP30 and the LGMA Constituency at the UNFCCC, thereby strengthening global multilevel governance.

How to host a Town Hall COP in 2025

  • Register your Town Hall COP with ICLEI. Choose a tentative date—ideally between April and September 2025—and submit your registration to get started.
  • Co-create an inclusive agenda and invitation list. Identify and invite key stakeholders from local, subnational, and national levels to ensure diverse participation.
  • Prepare using the Town Hall COP toolkit. Access guidance and templates to design an event that reflects your community’s goals and priorities.
  • Convene your Town Hall COP. Host the event, share climate strategies, and engage participants in meaningful discussions about future action.
  • Share and influence outcomes. Report your key insights and priorities to your national government, ICLEI, and your local community.
  • Elevate your impact globally. ICLEI will channel your outcomes to the UNFCCC process through the LGMA Constituency at COP30.

Cities in Germany and the United States call to support Town Hall COPs

Deriving from the Daring Cities 2024 Bonn Dialogues, Katja Dörner, Mayor of Bonn, Germany, and chair of the Climate Action Governance Portfolio for the ICLEI Global Executive Committee called on mayors to mobilize their national city associations to urge their governments support for climate ambition through multilevel action and multilevel NDCs, aligned with the CHAMP initiative. 

Last June, the Association of German Cities (Deutschen Städtetag, DST) adopted a resolution marking the first national position of local governments supporting CHAMP. Spearheaded by Mayor Dörner, Vice President of the DST, the resolution also encourages cities to convene their Town Hall COPs as an innovative approach to connect national and global processes.

Similarly, the United States Conference of Mayors issued a resolution supporting CHAMP and encouraging cities to back Town Hall COPs as the next iteration of the Paris Agreement local stocktake process and a key mechanism for receiving input to secure a robust multilevel U.S. NDC by 2025.

Charting the roadmap to Belém, Daring Cities is committed to promote the Town Hall COPs to catalyze multilevel collaboration and amplify local climate perspectives within broader climate processes toward a just, equitable, and resilient climate future.

Watch our Daring Cities 2024 sessions on Town Hall COPs