Over 40 ministers met today in Dubai in support of subnational climate action, joining the COP28 Presidency to announce a series of partnerships to accelerate the net-zero transition and climate resilience in cities. The announcements span sectors including buildings, waste and resource management systems, urban water resilience, and urban nature restoration. They build on the 1 December launch of the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships for Climate Action (CHAMP) to include cities and regions in the design of federal climate commitments and strategies. “Meeting the aims of the Paris Agreement and keeping 1.5°C within reach depends on the leadership and support of the world’s mayors and governors,” said Dr. Al Jaber, “That is why at COP28 we have empowered leaders and communities by launching CHAMP and working with organizations like UN-Habitat and Bloomberg Philanthropies to recognize and support the important roles cities and their leaders can play in addressing climate change." Multilevel Action, Urbanization, Built Environment and Transport Day hosted the second Urban Climate Ministerial, co-organized with United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28,and concludes a week of unprecedented mayoral and gubernatorial participation in the COP process. Brazil’s Minister of Cities, HE Jader Barbalho Filho, closed the meeting by announcing Brazil’s plans to widen participation and mobilization for the Ministerial at COP30. The COP28 Presidency and Bloomberg Philanthropies partnered to deliver the Local Climate Action Summit (LCAS) (1-2 December), which saw over 500 subnational leaders join the summit portion of a COP for the first time. Nearly USD $500 million of new city-focused climate investment was also announced. 6 December outcomes include: The Buildings Breakthrough The Buildings Breakthrough, launched with the support of 27 countries, is led by France and Morocco. The partnership aims to make ‘near-zero and resilient buildings’ the new normal by 2030, addressing the fact that the building sector alone accounts for nearly 40 percent of global energy-related CO2 emissions, 50 percent of extracted materials, and one-third of global waste. The Cement Breakthrough The Cement and Concrete Breakthrough was launched by Canada and the UAE, along with an inaugural cohort of endorsing countries that include the United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan and Germany. The initiative strives to make clean cement the preferred choice in global markets, with near-zero emission cement production established and growing in every region of the world by 2030. The Waste to Zero initiative Waste to Zero[1] is a voluntary coalition made up of governments of all levels, NGOs, and the private sector to decarbonize the waste management sector and transform waste into resources[2]. Waste to Zero is an official initiative under the UAE’s ‘Year of Sustainability’ and spearheaded by the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE), Abu Dhabi Waste Management Company (Tadweer), and Roland Berger. The Waste MAP The Waste MAP is the first-ever global platform to use satellite monitoring to track and measure methane emissions from waste, developed by the Global Methane Hub[3], Google Foundation, Rocky Mountain Institute, Clean Air Taskforce (CATF), the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)/GHGSat, and Carbon Mapper. Local governments and NGOs can use the platform to identify and mitigate methane emissions before they become hazardous. The...