“Come join us – entrepreneurs, singers, musicians, mathematicians, professors, students – we need people that represent the whole world because this is about the whole world and the people who live here … It’s time to act, it’s time to join together, and that’s why at this Climate Action Summit, we’re going to get it done.” –Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., Message to the Global Citizen Festival in Hamburg, Germany, July 2017
The Global Climate Action Summit will bring together leaders from state and local governments, business, and citizens from around the world, to demonstrate how the tide has turned in the race against climate change, showcase climate action taking place around the world, and inspire deeper commitments from each other and from national governments.
The Summit will help demonstrate what progress has been made on climate action since 2015 and how more is needed.
It will mobilize bold new commitments by non-state actors that will contribute to meeting the Paris Agreement. It will also demonstrate to national governments in the run-up to COP24 that stronger commitments are necessary, desirable and achievable. Summit participants are expected to make substantial climate commitments to support climate action in five key areas: Healthy Energy Systems, Inclusive Economic Growth, Sustainable Communities, Land Stewardship and Transformative Climate Investments.
- Healthy Energy Systems: A quantum leap toward clean and equitable energy and mobility systems will spur climate progress and healthy economies and communities
- Inclusive Economic Growth: The clean technology and energy transition will generate high-quality employment and inclusive, resilient economic growth
- Sustainable Communities: Sustainable cities and communities will lead the way to green building and infrastructure that improves quality of life
- Land Stewardship: Stewardship of lands will enable climate resilience and mitigation while ensuring sufficient food supplies for a growing population
- Transformative Climate Investments: Investments on the scale needed to achieve the Paris Agreement will spur innovation and accelerate a clean and resilient economy
The Summit is a collaboration among several groups and individuals, representing the global spectrum of non-state actors. The co-chairs are Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., Michael Bloomberg, Patricia Espinosa, and Anand Mahindra—who each will help connect the event with their respective organizations. The Advisory Committee and its members will provide strategic guidance and input for the Summit, will engage the constituencies they represent for the Summit, and will help lead working groups to develop new outcomes for the Summit.
The California Governor’s Office is helping lead the planning, organization and execution of the Summit.
Mission 2020, convened by the former UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, will work with the Governor’s Office to connect with experts and organizations to spur new and necessary commitments on climate leadership. The United Nations Foundation provides strategic, fundraising and communications support for the Summit.
Leaders from across sectors and around the world will be invited to participate in the Summit in person or via remote connection including: states, and local governments; businesses and investors; civil society, members of the faith community and other influencers; national governments and tribes; and individuals committed to climate action.
This Summit will be a key gathering of the non-state actors and sub-national governments who are central to doing the work of meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. The Summit will also build on the One Planet Summit hosted by French president Emmanuel Macron in December 2017, and build momentum for COP24, when the world’s leaders will gather in Poland to participate in the “stock-taking” of progress since the Paris Agreement was signed, as well as the Climate Summit being planned by United Nations Secretary General Guterres in 2019. This Summit will enable and support progress by national governments as they work towards their Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement—and enhance those commitments by 2020.
Additional information about Summit participation will be published on the Summit website and distributed to those who sign up for future updates. For organizations that wish to get involved in the Summit, participation will be tied to reporting on significant progress on past climate commitments, a demonstrated record of climate leadership, and new commitments that align with the Summit’s five core themes. Summit organizers will select event speakers with input from the Advisory Committee.
The Advisory Committee, facilitated by Mission 2020, will support delivery of the five headline outcomes thematic areas and the commitments that participants will be making at the Summit. The Advisory Committee will support the development of an estimate of how much subnational and non-state actors have helped cut greenhouse gas emissions to date and show low-carbon transformation is occurring in businesses and communities. The members of the Advisory Committee provide input for the benefit of the Co-Chairs. They are:
- Helen Clarkson, Chief Executive Officer, The Climate Group
- Aron Cramer, President and Chief Executive Officer, BSR
- Wael Hmaidan, Executive Director, Climate Action Network International
- Mindy Lubber, President & CEO, Ceres
- Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Leader, Climate and Energy Practice, World Wildlife Federation International, and President of COP 20
- Mark Watts, Executive Director, C40
- James Grabert, Director, Sustainable Development Mechanisms, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (Observer)
- Elizabeth Cousens, Deputy CEO, United Nations Foundation (Observer)
- Michelle Gyles-McDonnough, Director, Sustainable Development Unit, Executive Office of the Secretary-General at the United Nations (Observer)
- Facilitator: Andrew Higham, CEO, Mission 2020
