Accelerating Next-Generation City Climate Action: Findings from the 2024 Innovate4Cities Conference and Update to the Global Research and Action Agenda on Cities and Climate Change Science (GRAA)

This report captures the catalytic insights and recommendations emerging from the 2024 Innovate4Cities Conference (I4C24). Co-hosted by the Global Covenant of Mayors and UN-Habitat in Montréal, Canada, the conference convened nearly 2,000 participants across 226 sessions, representing urban practitioners, researchers, business leaders, and civil society. 

Building on the discussions and outcomes of I4C24, the report introduces an updated Global Research and Action Agenda on Cities and Climate Change Science (GRAA). This evidence-based framework highlights 160 knowledge gaps and over 250 action priorities that, when addressed, have the potential to accelerate urban climate action at the speed and scale necessary to achieve the Paris Agreement goals and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The GRAA also serves as the homebase for informing the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, identifying and collating peer-reviewed and grey literature to strengthen the science-policy-practice interface.