The Colombian capital, Bogotá, opened its doors to the III P4G Summit 'Colombia 2023,' held for the first time in a Latin American city. The inaugural ceremony featured the participation of Claudia López Hernández, the Mayor of Bogotá, who was responsible for opening and welcoming world leaders, business leaders, international organizations, financial institutions, investors, and civil society members.
This summit, titled "Transformative Partnerships for Sustainability: Actions Towards Green Growth and Life," aimed to facilitate discussions that foster innovative partnerships for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It also proposed a novel methodology to engage various societal stakeholders in discussions around three major thematic areas: biodiversity, energy transition, and sustainable cities.
During the opening session, Mayor Claudia López outlined the world's challenges in eradicating poverty and pursuing a sustainable agenda by 2030. She stated, "This is a fortunate opportunity to take concrete actions. If anything, the energy transition, climate change, and sustainable development need effective and results-oriented approaches, fewer words, and more actions... we need effective public-private partnerships based on trust, investment, development, and inclusion."
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Furthermore, she introduced the climate and inclusive sustainable development priorities of Bogotá to the audience, along with the city's commitments and specific actions taken to fulfill the SDGs. She emphasized, "Social and productive inclusion, energy transition, and climate change require 'Community Public-Private Partnerships' that can synchronize objectives. These would be partnerships based on trust, investment, development, and inclusion."
In this post, Mayor Claudia López addresses solutions to the challenges of climate change and highlights the key changes:
Las soluciones a los desafíos del cambio climático están en lo local y empiezan con:
— Claudia López Hernández (@ClaudiaLopez) September 22, 2023
- Una transformación educativa justa y pertinente.
- Una transformación económica para generar los empleos verdes, digitales y creativos que necesitan y quieren nuestros jóvenes.
- Nuevas formas… pic.twitter.com/pFhjrQr8yj
Bruce Mac Master, President of the National Business Association of Colombia (ANDI), and Robyn McGuckin, Executive Director of P4G, also participated in this space.
The first day of the Summit continued with the opening speeches from donor countries, delivered by Ole Thonke, Deputy Minister and Undersecretary for Development Policies of Denmark; Hyoeun Jenny Kim, Ambassador and Deputy Minister for Climate Change of the Republic of Korea; and Meike van Ginneken, Special Envoy for International Water Affairs of the Netherlands. Following these addresses, two high-level panels were held, focusing on partnerships for a just transition and innovative climate financing.
In the afternoon, the event transitioned into a series of roundtable discussions covering topics such as biodiversity, energy transition, sustainable cities, bio-based economy, decarbonization of the transportation sector, and renewable energy, among others.
Virtual Mayors' Summit
Early in this day, Mayor Claudia López led a Virtual Mayors' Summit, serving as a the pre-opening to the main Summit. Participating in this virtual gathering were Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, Mayor of Malmö (Sweden); Ekrem İmamoğlu, Mayor of Istanbul (Turkey); Cristian Zamora, Mayor of Cuenca (Ecuador); Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, Chief of Government of Buenos Aires (Argentina); Beverley van Reecircnen, Member of the Energy Committee of Cape Town (South Africa); Mónica Magnussen, Head of the International Team and a member of the Climate and Urban Development Department in Copenhagen (Denmark); Nanna Rosenfeldt, Director of International Affairs for Copenhagen (Denmark); and Rodrigo Ravena, Municipal Secretary of Environment and Greenery of São Paulo (Brazil).
The mayors addressed three key topics: opportunities and challenges in advancing effective partnerships for energy transition, the circular economy, food security, and water management. The conclusions drawn from this virtual conversation among mayors served as valuable insights into the local perspective of governments for the III P4G Summit Colombia 2023 program.
Furthermore, as part of her agenda, Mayor López held a bilateral meeting with Claudio Orrego, Governor of the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile, aiming to identify potential areas of technical cooperation between Bogotá and the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile, with a focus on urban renewal and climate action.
She also met with Ani Dasgupta, President and CEO of the World Resources Institute (WRI), to reaffirm the organization's commitment to projects such as the Séptima Green Corridor and Vital Neighborhoods. They also discussed exploring other opportunities for cooperation in energy transition, food, water, and energy systems.
The P4G Global Summit will conclude on Saturday with high-level interactive dialogues on global leadership for a sustainable future and transformative partnerships. The closing remarks will be delivered by Álvaro Leyva Durán, Colombia's Minister of Foreign Affairs.
