Governor Newsom announced as co-chair for the COP30 Local Leaders Forum in Rio de Janeiro

Co-hosted by the COP30 Presidency and Bloomberg Philanthropies, the forum will bring together hundreds of mayors, governors, and subnational leaders to deliver on global climate priorities.

“Local leaders are on the front lines in the fight against climate change. And from state capitals to city halls, they are proving they are up to the challenge,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions and Founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies. “Ahead of COP30, the Local Leaders Forum will bring together hundreds of leaders at the city and state levels to exchange ideas, raise their ambitions, and push national governments to do more, faster.”

About the forum

The COP30 Local Leaders Forum will mark ten years of progress since local leaders first gathered in Paris, demanding bold action at COP21. This convening will spotlight the power of local governments delivering climate goals into results. The forum will celebrate a decade of achievements and highlight the bold solutions when cities, states, and national governments work in lockstep together. Over three days, the forum will feature events aligned with the COP30 Action Agenda including the C40 World Mayors Summit, the Global States and Regions Summit, the National Front of Mayor’s (FNP) 88th General Assembly, the America Is ALL IN Solutions Exchange, the Amazon Cities Forum, the Bloomberg Philanthropies Local Leaders Climate Awards, and sessions on the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP), Brazil, and China.

Building on a successful record

Pollution is down and the economy is up. Greenhouse gas emissions in California are down 20% since 2000 — even as the state’s GDP increased 78% in that same time period all while becoming the world’s fourth largest economy last year. 

The state also continues to set clean energy records. California was powered by two-thirds clean energy in 2023, the latest year for which data is available — the largest economy in the world to achieve this level of clean energy. The state has run on 100% clean electricity for some part of the day almost every day this year.

Since the beginning of the Newsom Administration, battery storage is up to over 15,000 megawatts — a 1,900%+ increase, and over 25,000 megawatts of new resources have been added to the electric grid. 

This latest announcement builds on Governor Newsom’s record as current co-chair of the U.S. Climate Alliance and co-chair of the bipartisan “America is All-In” coalition.