Katarina Luhr, Deputy Mayor of Stockholm and Eurocities’ representative in the Covenant of Mayors Board, and Rafal Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw and Eurocities Board member, have been appointed as ‘Ambassadors’ of the European Climate Pact.

The European Climate Pact, officially launched on Wednesday, will offer ways for people and organisations to learn about climate change, develop and implement solutions, and connect with others to multiply the impact of those solutions.

The Pact will be based on 2 pillars:

• The Ambassadors: they will commit to climate action and engage in debates with people in their communities.
• The Pledges: citizens and organisations will be invited to register their climate initiatives and turn them into climate action pledges, to boost action, encourage others to join or start their own initiatives, and scale up and replicate good ideas and projects.

As Eurocities has already made clear, an effective European Climate Pact should be locally driven and will rely on city efforts, such as the recent initiative of 9 Swedish cities.

“You cannot make the EU Green Deal happen without the local level,” said Trzaskowski at the launch event.

The Pact will work alongside existing initiatives, such as the Covenant of Mayors, which has already encouraged more than 10,000 European cities and towns to commit to climate and energy plans, and can give a head start to the Climate Pact.

Similarly, the Climate Pact should embrace progressive initiatives, such as the Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, which has set the ambitious proposal of reaching 100 climate neutral cities by 2030.

The Climate Pact also offers the possibility to act as an umbrella for local climate pacts, by upscaling and replicating the most successful, triggering concrete measures in cities and regions across Europe.

The Pact will also provide an overview of available finance or funds for climate initiatives. In its first phase, the Climate Pact will focus on 4 areas: green areas, green mobility, efficient buildings and green skills.

More info here.