Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP) for Climate Action

Cities present a major opportunity — and an imperative — for raising climate ambition and delivering on countries’ climate mitigation and adaptation plans. 

Globally, one-third of potential urban emission reductions depends on collaboration between local, regional and national governments. Unlocking climate action through multilevel partnerships is therefore critical to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.

While the urban content of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) is improving, it remains insufficient and doesn’t reflect the increasingly urban world we live in. UN-Habitat analysis shows that only 27% of nations’ pledges under the Paris Agreement include strong urban content. Setting national targets in closer collaboration with subnational governments, including cities, states and regions, can both help close the emissions gap and build resilience to the effects of climate change being experienced today.

Cities, states and regions are ready to act and, with the right support, can not only rapidly reduce up to 90% of their emissions but also create good jobs and long-term shared prosperity.

The Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP) for Climate Action, launched in December 2023 by the COP28 Presidency in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies and with support from governmental, academic, and nonprofit groups, aims to enhance the cooperation and collaboration necessary for meeting those goals.

CHAMP is a commitment for greater multilevel cooperation in producing a country's climate plans, such as NDCs, to ensure that the next round of national pledges reflect greater ambition and inclusivity.

CHAMP seeks to unlock emissions reductions and build resilience through concerted action across all levels of government, ensuring that the next round of national climate pledges reflect greater ambition and inclusivity.

Broadly speaking, CHAMP has two complementary goals:  

• Signatory countries develop enhanced NDCs, incorporating strong subnational content, and include subnational governments in the process.
• Subnational governments in CHAMP countries can progress, finance and deliver more ambitious, inclusive climate action. 

CHAMP partners aim to demonstrate implementation of its pledge’s principles in at least 10 countries by COP30 in 2025.

WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, a founding partner of CHAMP, is supporting that effort in three main ways: 

In-Country Support

WRI is supporting four countries — Kenya, Rwanda, Colombia and Ethiopia — develop unified country-level CHAMP strategies by helping to identify priority climate actions that can benefit from stronger multilevel collaboration and co-design frameworks to enhance existing climate action pathways.

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NDC Guidance for National Governments

WRI has developed practical guidance to support national governments, particularly the 74 CHAMP endorsers, to enhance their NDCs through cooperation with subnational governments. Countries can produce more ambitious and credible NDCs by collaborating with subnational governments throughout the NDC development process and integrating subnational government data, trends, targets, risks, policies and actions into NDCs. Designed to support CHAMP, Stronger NDCs with Cities, States, and Regions sets out eight recommendations and accompanying practical steps, tools, case studies to support national governments in realizing this significant but underutilized multilevel partnership opportunity.

High-Level Political Dialogue

WRI co-hosted the CHAMP High-Level Political Dialogue: Delivering Climate Action Through National-Subnational Collaboration, a closed-door roundtable featuring ministers, governors and mayors, during the UN General Assembly and Climate Week NYC in September 2024. This roundtable was a crucial opportunity to showcase “first movers,” endorsers that have started working on and/or have made ambitious progress toward implementing NDC-related CHAMP principles, with the goal of encouraging further commitment and ambition.

List of CHAMP endorsing countries: