Evolution of the Global Research Action Agenda for Cities (GRAA)

The 2018 Cities and Climate Change Science conference initiated a process of engagement between urban policymakers, practitioners, researchers and other societal actors, to map and evaluate the state of research and progress on the intersection of cities and climate change, with an emphasis on research needs for increased action. The primary output of this conference was the Global Research and Action Agenda on Cities and Climate Change Science (GRAA)(World Climate Research Programme, 2019), which identified four cross cutting areas and six topical areas where research and knowledge were needed. Expanding the perspective from that seen at the conference to better include the city voice, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) launched the Innovate4Cities (I4C) initiative, and associated City Research Agenda, to support action by cities as called for within the 2018 Cities and Climate Change Science conference’s GRAA. 

The first Innovate4Cities conference (Innovate4Cities 2021) was held virtually in October 2021 by GCoM and UN-Habitat, and co-sponsored by the IPCC, once again bringing together a community from academia, the private sector, NGOs, local governments, national governments, city networks, youth, international organisations and other stakeholders engaged in addressing climate change in cities. This virtual conference allowed for presentations from around the world to take place across time zones over five days, which facilitated participation from a diversity of presenters and discussants from over 150 countries. In this presentation, Brenna and Cathy will discuss some of the initial insights on the GRAA, resulting from this recent I4C gathering.

Further reading: 

• Global Research and Action Agenda on Cities and Climate Change Science: https://www.wcrp-climate.org/WCRP-publications/2019/GRAA-Cities-and-Climate-Change-Science-Full.pdf 
• GCOM: https://www.globalcovenantofmayors.org/   
• Innovate4Cities initiative: https://www.globalcovenantofmayors.org/research-innovation/ 
• 2018 City Research Agenda: https://www.globalcovenantofmayors.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/GCoM_Innovate4Cities-OPS_Booklet_8.5x11.pdf 
• Announcement for Summary for Urban Policy Makers Initiatives: https://www.globalcovenantofmayors.org/press/new-summary-for-urban-policymakers-initiative-announced/ 
• Innovate4Cities Conference – Plenaries summary: https://unhabitat.org/relive-the-innovate4cities-climate-change-conference-plenaries-here
• The Future of our Cities is Indigenous – Maddison Miller, Pursuit: https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/the-future-of-our-cities-is-indigenous  
• I4C Conference Student Writing Team – Report: https://sites.research.unimelb.edu.au/cities/projects/innovate4cities/studentwritingteam 

This event has been organised with the financial support of the European Union’s Partnership Instrument. The opinions expressed are the sole responsibility of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.