R20’s bottom-up dynamic was presented by R20’s Founding Chair Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the French President François Hollande, as complementary to the UNFCCC negotiations. As a result, it was agreed that in order to encourage the Parties to adopt the Solutions’ Agenda and help agree on a new climate regime, the French Government would work with R20 on a diplomatic, operational, and financial strategy to effectively contribute to COP21.

This strategy will become part of the Road to Paris 2015, federating all forces at the sub-national level, including political figures, business, and financial leaders. These should form a strong global movement capable of evidencing concrete sub-national achievements and advocating for the adoption of a new international climate agreement in December 2015. In addition, R20 and other networks of regions have been collecting evidence of real projects and commitments taken at the sub-national level, to be presented at COP21 and demonstrating that cities and regions play a major role in complementing national efforts.