Cities have global challenges that are essential to face and must be made visible. These global agendas revolve around these points that are going to mentioned below.

• 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The United Nations General Assembly approved in September 2015 the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is structured around 17 objectives (SDGs), 169 goals and 232 indicators that indicate the development strategy of all countries of the world for next years.

The fulfillment of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implies the active participation of cities, both in the design phase of local public policies and in their implementation.

• Paris Agreement – Cop21

The 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (COP 21), held in Paris at the end of 2015, adopted the so-called Paris Agreement, which establishes a global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as of 2020. The emission of greenhouse gases is the leading cause of climate change, caused mainly in cities. Consequently, this Agreement recognizes the importance of cities and other subnational entities, as non-signatory stakeholders.

• New Urban Agenda

The New Urban Agenda was adopted at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in Quito, Ecuador, on 20 October 2016. The United Nations General Assembly endorsed it at its sixty-eighth plenary meeting of the seventy-first session on 23 December 2016.

The New Urban Agenda represents inclusive and connected cities, through regulatory instruments and public policies that harmonize the link between urbanization and development.

• Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction

This Framework, adopted at the Third United Nations World Conference held in Sendai (Japan) in March 2015, aims at four lines of action: (1) Understanding disaster risk. (2) strengthen disaster risk governance for better management. (3) Invest in disaster risk reduction for greater resilience. (4) increase disaster preparedness to better respond to them and for better recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction.

• Addis Ababa Action Agenda

The Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (Addis Ababa Action Agenda), adopted in July 2015, provides the basis for financing the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.

Special mention is made in paragraph 34 of the Agenda of the role that subnational governments have concerning spending and investments related to sustainable development.

• The Busan Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation

In December 2011, the 4th High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness was held in Busan, South Korea. This Forum aimed to review the effectiveness of development aid. There is a concrete recognition of Local Governments as relevant actors for development cooperation.