158 Japanese organizations adopt the Japan Climate Action Summit Declaration
On 12 October 2018, 158 organizations – including local governments, national governments, businesses, research institutions and NGOs – approved the Japan Climate Action Summit Declaration, committing to support the goals of the Paris Agreement and eventual decarbonization. The event was organized by Japan Climate Initiative (JCI), a multi-sector consortium of climate actors, including ICLEI Japan, motivated by the American climate movement, “We Are Still In.”
Local government representatives, including Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, and Mayor of Kyoto, Daisaku Kadokawa,joined representatives of the private sector, including major corporations such as Sony and Ricoh, to build momentum towards decarbonization. Their collective commitment comes ahead of COP24, the 24th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland where nations will face pressure from climate stakeholders to ratchet up their emissions reductions targets and climate investments.
ICLEI Members were there to highlight their plans to create a decarbonized society, while stressing the importance of tapping into business and community resources. Nagano Prefecture and Yokohama City, for example, are among a small number of cities in Japan to 100 percent renewable energy targets, while the leaders of Kyoto and Tokyo positioned themselves at the summit as proponents of city-business collaboration and community-driven climate action.
These commitments and ideas reflect ICLEI’s push for multilevel governance – coordinated action across all levels of government – and multi-stakeholder engagement, which are points of emphasis for ICLEI at COP24, as focal point of the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) constituency. ICLEI is bringing the results of a year full of multilevel, multi-stakeholder dialogues worldwide through the Cities and Regions Talanoa Dialogues.
