Mayors’ Declaration on Financing for Development to Build a Better, More Equitable World for Future Generations

The Global Parliament of Mayors and the Global Cities Hub are calling on mayors from around the world to sign the Mayors’ Declaration on Financing for Development to build a better, more equitable world for future generations. This crucial initiative aims to prioritize the role of local governments in driving sustainable development and addressing the climate crisis.

The Fourth Financing for Development Conference (FfD4) will begin in three months from now. The conference, set to take place from June 30 to July 3, 2025, in Sevilla (Spain), marks a critical moment for global efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the 2030 deadline. In advance of the event, the Global Cities Hub (GCH) and the Global Parliament of Mayors (GPM) have launched the “Mayors Declaration on Financing for Development – to build a better, more equitable world for future generations”, emphasizing the vital role of local and regional governments (LRGs) in shaping the future of sustainable development finance.

The Mayors Declaration calls for greater inclusion of local and regional governments in policy development and decision-making to ensure that financing strategies effectively address the realities on the ground. LRGs have a unique and comprehensive understanding of local development needs as they are the closest level of governance to the people. This insight places them at the forefront of delivering effective, high-impact solutions, such as investment in climate-resilient projects, building livable and resilient infrastructure, promoting people-centered sustainable development, or creating mission-oriented public-private partnerships. However, their voice has often been underrepresented in global economic governance and decision-making processes.

The 2024 Financing for Development report underscores that we are at a critical juncture, with an urgent need for large-scale, sustainable investments to meet the SDGs. The GCH concurs, emphasizing that the transformation of global financing must follow a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, fully integrating LRGs into the process.

At the recent UN Summit of the Future, states committed to strengthening the role of local and regional authorities in localizing the SDGs. This commitment to more inclusive multilateral cooperation can enable the international community to bridge the gap between the vision of the SDGs and the reality on the ground. Including LRGs into the global financial architecture and localizing financing for development would be the logical and necessary step that enables LRGs to meet SDG targets.

The Mayors Declaration calls upon states to adopt an inclusive approach to financing SDG localization and to ensure policy coherence at local, regional, and national levels to successfully work toward Agenda 2030. Its key recommendations include:

• Inclusive Multilateralism in Financial Architecture: We recommend that the international financial system integrate LRGs’ perspectives into its decision-making processes to ensure that financing for sustainability is inclusive and representative of local needs.
• Political Commitment and Resources: We urge States and IFIs to show political commitment and promote sustainable resource allocation for climate resilience, recognizing the critical role of LRGs in implementing SDG-related projects.
• MDB Reform to Include Urban Climate Finance: We urge multilateral development banks (MDBs) to integrate urban climate finance into their reform agendas, ensuring that country platforms include urban climate adaptation and mitigation projects through multilevel coordination.
• Investment in net-zero technologies: We urge national and international actors to advance simplified funding and streamlined regulations that would encourage direct funding and investment in developing net-zero technologies, reskilling workforce and scaling up sustainable solutions at the local level.
• Public-Private Partnerships for Climate Infrastructure: We recommend promoting public-private partnerships at the municipal level that will enable the development of climate-related urban infrastructure, making cities more resilient to climate impacts.

The FfD4 conference in Sevilla offers a unique opportunity to reform financing mechanisms across all levels of government, with a particular focus on supporting reforms to the international financial architecture. The High-level Political in New York in July should provide space for comprehensive discussion about advancing the localization of the SDGs through sustainable local financing solutions. The COP30 in Belém will shed light on the need for more investment in climate-resilient local projects.

The “Mayors Declaration on Financing for Development – to build a better, more equitable world for future generations” is a call to action for all stakeholders to prioritize the role of local governments in driving sustainable development and addressing the climate crisis.

Click the buttons above to read and sign the Mayors’ Declaration on Financing for Development to build a better, more equitable world for future generations.