2023 – Ahmedabad

U20 in 2023

The city of Ahmedabad is the Urban 20 (U20) 2023 chair, following a handover from Jakarta, the U20 2022 chair. Through the U20, cities from G20 member states engage with the G20 and commit to working together with national governments to move from intention to action and draft a roadmap for global change that will be driven together with cities, closing the gap between policy and practice at all levels of governance. The 2023 U20 chair has identified six priority areas building on this year’s G20 theme “One Earth – One Family – One Future” that are critical for inspiring city level actions to respond to global agendas: (1) encouraging environmentally responsible behaviors, (2) ensuring water security, (3) accelerating climate finance, (4) championing local identity, (5) reinventing frameworks for urban governance and (6) planning and catalyzing digital urban futures.

Ahmedabad as the Chair city for the sixth U20 cycle, calls on cities to work together in a spirit of solidarity and with the objective of deepening their collaboration and to collectively find solutions that are in sync with the overall objectives of the G20. The U20 Mayors’ Summit set to take place in July 2023 will allow U20 cities to present their joint recommendations to the government of India as President of the upcoming 18th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit. The G20 Leaders’ Summit is set to take place on 9th-10th September 2023 in New Delhi.

Outputs

Date	Type	Title
2023	Press release	U20 2023 Summit Press Release
2023	Communique	U20 2023 Communiqué
2023	Other	Urban 20 Joint Statement of the Climate Finance Working Group

Building on the legacy of the past Urban 20 Summits, Mayors and city leaders from U20 cities will gather in 2023 cycle to call on G20 leaders to work together for enabling cities to ensure a resilient and inclusive urban future:

Encourage Environmentally Responsible Behaviours

Ensure water security

Accelerate climate finance

Champion “local” culture and economy

Reinvent frameworks for urban governance and planning

Catalyse digitalurban futures

Under the Chairmanship of the city of Ahmedabad, the Urban 20 will call on Heads of State and Government of the G20 to work together in six main areas:

Encourage Environmentally Responsible Behaviours by supporting city and national policies in eight key areas, from maximising renewables and prioritising public transport to phasing out single-use plastic, in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Funding just transition initiatives that leave no one behind, and enabling whole-of-society behavioural change towards environmentally responsible practices, with targeted subsidies that encourage zero-carbon consumer choices, participatory decision-making and institutionalising multi-stakeholder collaborations of local governments, civil society and industry champions.

Ensure water security by strengthening collaboration between local and national authorities to mainstream sustainable water management practices,
protect and revitalise water ecosystems and strengthen effective water governance.

Accelerate climate financeby overhauling multilateral development banks (MDBs) to disincentivise investment in fossil fuels and setting up urban climate finance initiatives that massively step up support for climate adaptation, as well as establishing a loss and damage fund that is directly accessible by cities.

Champion “local” culture and economy by thinking locally in an ever-globalising world, fostering a sense of place, leveraging traditional knowledge and frugal innovation, and promoting local and regional economic development and community wellbeing Adopt policies for inclusive and equitable local economic and social development and community wealth- building.

Reinvent frameworks for urban governance and planning that promote multi-level strategic planning and collaborative governance and facilitate equitable and sustainable urban regeneration of degraded and vulnerable built environments.

Catalyse digital urban futures by working with G20 leaders to ensure the benefits of the digital economy are shared universally within cities, facilitating data-informed decision-making and encouraging new digital innovations.