Last September, our founding executive director Ebru Gencer attended the ‘High-Level Convening of City-Climate Networks’ at Climate Week NYC and discussed the ongoing challenges and current opportunities for science-based urban climate solutions with experts in the industry.
‘High-Level Convening of City-Climate Networks’ brought together leading city and science networks to strengthen knowledge partnerships for urban climate solutions. With climate impacts accelerating and pressure on cities to act rising, this convening showcased how city networks are essential to connecting science and knowledge to on-the-ground action, sharing critical data, best practices, and viable solutions, and nforming global processes like the forthcoming IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities (SR Cities). Discussions focused on emerging needs for data and actionable science, practical tools for city leaders, and how knowledge platforms such as Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN) ’s City Solutions Case Study Atlas, can empower cities to design science-based, solution-oriented responses.
By bringing together C40 Cities, ICLEI, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme), Climate Mayors, World Resources Institute, and partners including CUDRR+R, the dialogue underscored a shared commitment: building stronger bridges between research, policy, and practice so that cities worldwide can forge ahead with effective, equitable climate action.
We want to express our thanks to UCCRN, which has a unique opportunity to bridge the gap in research and provide actionable science and knowledge to city practitioners and policy makers, that convened this meeting along with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM).
Ebru Gencer was a signatory to a joint statement of UCCRN and the Global Covenant of Mayors which was developed based on the dialogue and findings of the event. The joint statement: Meeting the Emerging Data and Information Needs for Science-based Urban Climate Solutions was presented at the C40 World Mayors Summit in Rio de Janeiro, November 2025.
