Brussels, 23-27 January 2023 | GCoM Global enacted an open house where GCoM secretariats and partners across the globe gathered in Brussels, Belgium. The Open House was the first in-person meeting, and consisted of a series of meetings and knowledge-sharing sessions to provide updates on the activities implemented by GCoM at the Global level and to collect feedback from the partners across the Region, including the GCoM Southeast Asia Secretariat.
The five-day event was kicked off with a Strategic Advisory Committee (SAC). The SAC members discussed several important points, including a proposal to re-activate dormant cities, topics of Global-Regional exchange calls, and progress on GCoM badges. There were also updates from five Technical Working Groups (TWG) regarding a coordination mechanism of GCoM with city network partners. The five TWGs are (1) Global and Regional Coherence; (2) Data Management, Monitoring, and Reporting; (3) Finance; (4) Communications; and (5) Research and Innovation.
GCoM, through its Research and Innovation (R&I) TWG, is currently working towards a simplified reporting platform and data collection methods in collaboration with CDP, ICLEI, and European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). At the Global-Regional Coherence (GRC) TWG, each Secretariat presented its Regional/National Strategies. The discussion highlighted the need for the monitoring, evaluation, assessment, and learning system and ensuring the sustainability of GCoM outputs beyond the project.
The Finance TWG encourages cities to explore innovative financing and multi-stakeholder collaboration opportunities in implementing their climate action plans. Regarding this, GCoM collaborates with partners to provide technical support services, such as Urban Transition Mission, City Climate Gap Fund, Bankable Climate Project Initiative, Business Matchmaking, and Expert Exchange Programme. Furthermore, GCoM, JRC, and Gap Fund enacted a meeting to discuss future collaborations.
The GCoM Open House also set several Interactive Regional Sessions to facilitate learning exchange between regional secretariats, an effort that further emphasised the role of regions. During the sessions, participants got the opportunity to learn about progress and challenges from Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, North America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea, and Latin America.
Most importantly, the participants of the GCoM Open House also received training on the Common Reporting Framework (CRF). As a reporting platform for GCoM signatories, CRF is linked to the CDP-ICLEI Track and MyCovenant. CDP-ICLEI Track has been simplified to 60% fewer questions from the previous version. MyCovenant will introduce a simplified version by reducing and replacing indicators. It will also develop a dashboard to make data comparisons between cities visible.
Two other essential sessions were Field Visit to Leuven and City-to-City Network. The objective of this visit is to learn more about climate policy and sustainable development in practice, participants were invited to visit Leuven, Belgium. Organised by Covenant of Mayors – Europe and GCoM Global, the City-to-city Network aimed to foster dialogue and exchange of good practices among GCoM signatories.
Throughout those 5 days, the GCoM Southeast Asia Secretariat found the sessions fruitful for the team at the Secretariat and beneficial for signatories of cities and local governments. The event opens the pathway for further collaboration and ensures the impact of GCoM’s activities.
—
Written by: Nicole Accalia Angriawan
Reviewed by: Rona Ikram Putri
