The Jameel C40 Urban Planning Climate Labs announced today a series of significant advancements in their mission to embed climate action into the fabric of urban governance.
Last week in Chennai, the Jameel C40 labs hosted a national convening on mainstreaming climate action in cities.
The three-day event was attended by 14 city officials from six Indian cities, providing a critical platform for exploring the integration of climate action into core areas of urban governance such as planning, budgeting and implementation.
This event also marked the first in-person gathering of the Jameel C40 labs' cohort of city practitioners, a network of 11 cities in South and West Asia—including Amman, Chennai, Dubai, Mumbai and the newly added Jeddah—dedicated to peer learning and collaborative problem-solving.
The final day of the conference expanded to include over 100 national experts, city leaders and stakeholders.
Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary for environment, climate change and forests, Tamil Nadu, delivered a keynote address emphasising the importance of inclusive, climate-smart approaches to city development.
In a significant development, the Jameel C40 Urban Planning Climate Labs announced a new collaboration with the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation.
This partnership will extend the labs' work in Tamil Nadu through the development of a neighbourhood pilot project in Chennai and the replication of the Jameel C40 model to catalyse systemic, city-scale climate action in other cities across the state.
The momentum continued today on the sidelines of London Climate Action Week, where Community Jameel and C40 Cities – co-founders of the Jameel C40 labs – joined with global design and architecture firm Gensler to host an event titled Accelerating climate action through urban planning.
Bringing together leaders across urban design, policy and implementation, the session explored how cities can use planning as a powerful lever to deliver nature-positive and socially inclusive outcomes.
Taking place at Gensler's London offices, the event featured a panel discussion, moderated by C40's Hélène Chartier, with:
Remarks were also made by youth representatives from Brazil, ahead of the COP30 climate conference this year, and Lucy Rochford, arts and culture programmes officer at Community Jameel.
The Jameel C40 Urban Planning Climate Labs are a global partnership between C40 Cities and Community Jameel, dedicated to assisting rapidly growing cities in merging climate action with urban planning.
The initiative provides cities with the technical expertise and support needed to refine city plans, align them with ambitious climate goals and develop sustainable, low-carbon urban spaces that can serve as models for others.
The labs focus on tangible frameworks and collaborative problem-solving to ensure that climate considerations are integrated into every stage of urban development, from policy and budgeting to implementation on the ground.
