Singapore at the Urban 20 Mayors Summit – Sharing Singapore's Efforts in Sustainable Development

A Singapore delegation headed by Mayor Low Yen Ling attended the Urban 20 (U20) Mayors Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 14 to 17 November 2024. The Summit saw about 5,000 attendees, including more than 50 Mayors across 80 cities.

Singapore Mayor Low Yen Ling led a delegation, including staff from the Centre for Liveable Cities, to the Urban 20 (U20) Mayors Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 14 to 17 November 2024. The Summit saw about 5,000 attendees, including more than 50 Mayors across 80 cities.

The Urban 20 Mayors Summit

The U20 is a city diplomacy initiative and Engagement Group under the Group of 20 (G20). It aims to enrich the discussions of national leaders at the G20 with unique urban perspectives. Under the Brazilian presidency, the U20 2024 cycle was co-chaired by the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Its main outcome was the U20 Communiqué, which charts out proposals for local and regional governments to work with national leaders on three priority areas:

1. Social inclusion and fight against hunger and poverty, including effective provision of local public services that addresses inequalities;

2. Sustainable development and just energy transition, including promoting clean mobility and a decarbonised construction sector;

3. Reform of global governance institutions, including reforming global financial architecture and establishing a more inclusive multilateral system.

As an Observer city in the U20 2024 cycle, Singapore endorsed the U20 Communiqué and contributed an insertion on the importance of green and blue spaces to sustainable development.

Singapore at U20

Mayor Low had two speaking opportunities at the summit. First, she spoke at the U20 Mayoral Plenary on Singapore’s greening efforts and strategies in sustainable development through the Singapore Green Plan 2030. She highlighted Singapore’s commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 through various measures, including increasing carbon taxes and diversifying our energy mix.

She also participated in a panel on “Leveraging Smart and Low-Carbon Cities”, where she shared about how Singapore leverages technology and smart solutions to enhance sustainability in transport and other areas.

Singapore at U20

On the sidelines of the Summit, Rio de Janeiro’s Mayor Eduardo Paes signed the Network Declaration to formalise Rio’s membership to the City Network for the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize (LKYWCP Network). Launched in June 2024 at the World Cities Summit, the Network aims to facilitate global knowledge exchange on building liveable and sustainable cities. The signing of the Declaration makes Rio de Janeiro the first Special Mention city to formally join the LKYWCP Network, whose Founding Members comprise representatives from the seven LKYWCP Laureate cities (Bilbao, New York City, Suzhou, Medellín, Seoul, Vienna, and Mexico City).

In all, Mayor Low met city leaders from 24 cities in Africa, North America and Latin America for discussions and pull asides on bilateral matters. Mayor Low also took the opportunity to share about and invite city leaders to CLC’s upcoming signature events – the World Cities Summit Mayors Forum 2025 in Vienna and World Cities Summit 2026 in Singapore, where they would be able to further the global conversation on building liveable and sustainable cities.

Contributed by: Alysia Wee, Assistant Director, Research