This month the Center for Global Sustainability (CGS) sent delegations to the UN Bonn June Climate Meetings (SB64) in Germany and London Climate Action Week in the United Kingdom. In London, the CGS delegation was also invited to attend the UN Secretary General’s special address on responding to the energy and climate crises. In line with these meetings, CGS released two new reports: one showing how countries are enhancing energy security by transitioning away from fossil fuels; and one offering a new methodological approach to better understand how cities are making progress toward their climate and sustainability goals and delivering better outcomes for their people.
The three weeks of meetings kicked off in Bonn, Germany for the UN Subsidiary Body negotiations. For these meetings, CGS Founder and Director Prof. Nate Hultman was joined by CGS Visiting Professor of Practice Trigg Talley and Visiting Principal Faculty Specialist Toby Hedger.
Over the course of the two week negotiations, the CGS delegation met with other organizations and partners to discuss shared challenges and opportunities for action at subnational, national, and global levels. Specific topics included understanding pathways to enhanced action; responding to high fossil fuel prices and volatility with more affordable and secure clean technologies; national inventories, transparency and reporting; the role of subnational action in supporting enhanced national and global outcomes; and more.
Beyond these engagements, the delegation met with international inventory professionals to discuss CGS’s recently released Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Analysis for the United States (GHGIA). “Connecting with these teams offered valuable insights into how we can continue to develop our non-governmentally based inventory and reporting to best support the global policy and science communities who rely on this data,” Hultman said.
Following engagements in Germany, CGS joined partners and leaders from around the world at London Climate Action Week to learn more about how countries and subnational actors are working toward achieving better outcomes for their people and for the climate. The delegation included Hultman, Talley, CGS Associate Director Prof. Ryna Cui, Assistant Professor Prof. Jiehong Lou, and Strategic Initiatives Specialist Marcie Kim DiCocco.
The delegation attended UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ special address on the global energy and climate crises. In support of the Secretary-General’s call, CGS released a new report, Accelerating the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels in Response to the Global Energy Crisis with the Strait of Hormuz Closure, examining how countries are responding to the impacts of the current energy crisis. A CGS-authored guest piece in Carbon Brief, How US renewable-energy growth persists despite federal policy uncertainty, further highlights how U.S. clean energy advancements have continued in the face of federal climate policy uncertainty.
“The Secretary General’s remarks thoughtfully drew connections between solutions to the current global energy challenges and many aspects of climate change,” Cui said. “Our research supports the call to action, indicating a general consensus that renewable and other clean technologies and the transition away from fossil fuels are prime solutions for energy security and affordability concerns.”
CGS also joined subnational leaders for the Local Climate Action summit to engage in discussions advancing the role of local action in tackling climate change. The event continued conversations from the COP30 Local Leaders Forum in Rio in November 2025, which CGS also participated in. Aligned with these conversations, CGS released a new report, Tracking and Assessing Cities’ SDG Progress and Pathways to Greater Ambition: the Cases of London, New York City, and Shanghai, offering a comprehensive framework to assess cities’ progress toward international, national, and local climate goals.
“I am proud that CGS is contributing to these conversations through our international engagement and high-impact research at this critical moment,” Hultman said. “Our work is informing national, state, and city strategies and actions; carrying forward the U.S. national GHG inventory to support data, science, and transparency globally; and building international partnerships to grow stronger together over time.”
