R20 Regions of Climate Action

The R20 - Regions of Climate Action is a non-profit environmental organization founded in November 2010, by former Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, with the support of the United Nations. R20 is a coalition of sub-national governments, private companies, international organizations, NGOs, and academic & financial institutions. Its mission is to help sub-national governments to implement low-carbon and climate-resilient projects, as well as to share best practices in renewable energy and energy efficiency in order to build a “green economy”. This NGO operates at the sub-national level as R20 believes sub-national governments constitute a powerful force for change and are best positioned to take action & implement green projects. Through this bottom-up approach, successful sub-national projects will be scaled-up to national and international levels to achieve a broader, global impact.

According to its Charter, the mission of R20 is to prevent a 2°C increase in global temperatures by 2020 by reducing global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 75%.

The R20 works - upon demand from the regions - as a “matchmaker” for three actors: sub-national governments, technology developers and investors. Its purpose is to connect them with each other, in order to facilitate the implementation of green projects targeting: GHG emission reductions, public health improvements, job creation, and poverty reduction. To that end, the organization works with worldwide sub-national governments, academic institutions, corporations, financial institutions, intergovernmental organizations, non-profit organizations and United Nations programmes.