A side event dedicated to the COP29 Presidency’s initiative, Multisectoral Actions Pathways (MAP) to Resilient and Healthy Cities, was held at the UN on September 23, 2024.

Co-hosted by the COP29 Presidency, UN-Habitat, and Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) during the 79th session of the UN General Assembly and New York Climate Week, the event aimed to inform participants about the COP29 Presidency’s initiative, Multisectoral Actions Pathways (MAP) to Resilient and Healthy Cities, and to foster discussions on the topic. The event started with speeches by Anar Guliyev, Chairman of the State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture of the Republic of Azerbaijan; Anacláudia Marinheiro Centeno Rossbach, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat); and Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga, Director of UNFCCC’s Intergovernmental Support and Collective Progress Division. They highlighted cities' critical role in combating climate change and emphasized the importance of multisectoral collaboration and efforts to build resilient and healthy cities.

Two panels, moderated by Lea Ranalder from UN-Habitat, were featured during the event and focused on the topics of multisectoral climate action in cities and the role of COP29. Participants included Ms. Tatiana Molchan, Executive Secretary of UNECE; Ms. Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO); Mr. Halil Hasar, Director of the Climate Change Department at Türkiye’s Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change; Ms. Minna Arve, First Vice President of ICLEI and Mayor of Turku, Finland; and Ms. Megan Ross from Bloomberg Philanthropies. During the event, Ms. Megan Ross expressed Bloomberg’s support for the Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change, set to take place on the Urbanization Day of COP29. The panellists emphasized the innovative aspects that the MAP initiative has launched, highlighting its inclusion of multisectoral synergy approach and new sectors which were not covered by the previous COP initiatives. They also pointed out that the initiative would help foster synergy between the World Urban Forum and World Environment Day.

The second panel on “Advancing Cooperation for Accelerating Local Climate Finance” featured guests like Ms. Valerie Hickey, Global Director for Environment at the World Bank; Ms. Priscilla Negreiros, Associate Director of the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance (CCFLA); Ms. Diep Nguyen-van Houtte, Senior Manager for Innovation and Business Development, Climate Business Department, at the International Finance Corporation (IFC); Mr. Noelle O’Brien, Director of Climate Change and Sustainable Development Department at ADB; and Ms. Chunping Xie, Climate Economist from AIIB. They discussed the importance of channelling more climate finance toward sustainable urban development and noted how the MAP initiative can contribute to increasing global urban climate finance.

As concluding remarks, Mr. Yunus Arikan, Head of Global Policy and Advocacy at ICLEI, shared insights about ICLEI’s role in urban climate action and emphasized its close collaboration with COP29. Following this, COP29’s Lead Negotiator and Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Yalchin Rafiyev, thanked participants for attendance and announced that as a result of the MAP initiative, COP29 Presidency would establish the Baku Continuity Coalition for Urban Climate Action, in collaboration with multiple COP Presidencies and UN-Habitat. Furthermore, he encouraged countries and organizations to join the MAP Declaration and provided details on the Ministerial Meeting and thematic roundtables, which are planned to take place on November 20, during COP29 Urbanization Day.