Delhi Declaration Elevates Global South Cities at COP30

With climate diplomacy increasingly focused on implementation on the ground, cities are asserting their role as frontline actors. The Delhi Declaration on Local Action for Global Climate Goals, adopted on October 9, 2025, at the first ARISE Cities Forum in New Delhi, marks a landmark moment. It amplifies the urban voice of the Global South, demanding that local governments be recognized as partners in the global climate regime. As the declaration is handed over to COP30 in Belém, Brazil, it sets the stage for stronger, locally grounded climate action.

Background & Rationale

What Is ARISE Cities Forum?

• ARISE—Adaptive, Resilient, Innovative, Sustainable, and Equitable—is ICLEI South Asia’s flagship urban resilience forum. The 2025 edition, themed “From Bharat to Belém,” brings together mayoral, municipal, national, and global stakeholders.
• The Delhi Declaration is the intended collective outcome to be forwarded to COP30.

Why Focus on Cities?

• Cities concentrate population, emissions, and vulnerability. Many climate solutions—efficient infrastructure, public transport, waste and water systems, nature-based cooling—are urban in nature.
• Yet in global climate talks, urban priorities often remain peripheral. The Delhi Declaration seeks to correct this by insisting cities be integral to decision-making.

Key Features & Commitments

Participating Cities & Delegates

• Over 200 delegates from 60 cities across 25 countries attended.
• Stakeholders included local, subnational, national governments, private sector actors, and international organisations.
• The declaration was handed over to the COP30 Presidency in Belém by Shankar Lalwani (MP, mentor at Climate Parliament India) to Rodrigo De Souza Corradi (Deputy Exec. Secretary, ICLEI South America).

Core Commitments

The Delhi Declaration outlines a set of actionable demands and priorities,

• Advance local climate action via measurable, resourced multilevel NDCs (NDCs 3.0)
• Drive inclusive urban resilience, using adaptation, circular economy, and nature-based solutions
• Promote just and participatory green transitions toward net-zero trajectories
• Empower citizens, women, youth, and communities in climate governance
• Strengthen multilevel governance and transparent, interoperable data systems
• Mobilise climate finance and expand direct access for cities
• Champion Global South leadership through South–South and triangular cooperation

Thematic Focus & Forum Sessions

The two-day forum addressed multiple urban challenge areas,

• Bridging the gap between national climate ambition and local delivery
• Circularity in water and waste systems
• Sustainable urban food systems
• Nature-based climate solutions
• Urban heat, disaster management, clean mobility, transit-oriented development
• Digital planning tools, climate finance instruments, governance innovations

Static Facts

• Event Name: ARISE Cities Forum 2025
• Declaration Name: Delhi Declaration on Local Action for Global Climate Goals
• Date of Adoption: October 9, 2025
• Location: New Delhi, India
• Organizers: ICLEI South Asia and National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA)