Kathmandu, September 20
Last week, mayors from over three dozen cities around the world gathered in San Francisco to announce that they are taking the lead in the fight against climate change.
The national governments are simply not up to the task, but that does not mean subnational governments cannot do anything, this was the message the mayors sent to their heads of state and government at the Global Climate Action Summit.
The mayors, who gathered at the event under the aegis of C40 Cities, announced that 27 cities, representing 54 million citizens and USD 6 trillion in GDP, have already peaked their carbon emissions, even while their population continues to rise and economies grow. This is an important step towards the implementation of the Paris Agreement, according to which global carbon emissions must peak by 2020, says a new C40 report presented during the event.
“Climate Opportunity shows what the mayors of the world’s great cities have known for a long time: climate, public health, and a strong economy are deeply connected. We need cities around the world to implement the bold climate policies detailed in this report, if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change,” said Mark Watts, the executive director of C40.
Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris and C40 chair, read out the names of the 27 cities at the opening of the event: Barcelona, Basel, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Copenhagen, Heidelberg, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Milan, Montréal, New Orleans, New York City, Oslo, Paris, Philadelphia, Portland, Rome, San Francisco, Stockholm, Sydney, Toronto, Vancouver, Warsaw and Washington DC. According to a C40 report, the 27 cities achieved the feat by decarbonising of the electricity grid; optimising energy use in buildings; providing cleaner, affordable alternatives to private cars; reducing waste and increasing recycling rates.
One of the prominent speakers was the mayor of Dhaka. “Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) is taking a lot of initiatives to meet the challenge posed by climate change,” said Mayor Md Sayeed Khokon. “We have constructed several six-storey buildings to rehabilitate climate displaced people. We have also developed 70 landfills and 24 stations to manage waste. We are encouraging rooftop gardening by managing holding tax incentives.”
While mayors from around the world and South Asia made several announcements to take the fight against climate change to the next level, the event did not see the participation of a Nepali mayor.
This story was supported by the 2018 Climate Change Media Partnership, a collaboration between Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Foundation.
