Mexico City, Mexico (1 December 2016) – Eleven cities were honored yesterday at an awards ceremony in Mexico City. The C40 Cities Awards recognize the world’s most inspiring and innovative cities tackling climate change. Sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies and BYD, the C40 Cities Awards ceremony was held during the C40 Mayors Summit, where more than 40 mayors from around the…
Mayors of the world’s major cities have called for national governments and international financial institutions to help finance low-carbon and sustainable projects. These reforms are crucial for implementing the New Urban Agenda and meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The C40 Cities Call for Action on Municipal Infrastructure Finance, details six…
By: Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris; Eduardo Paes, Mayor of Rio de Janeiro; and Miguel Ángel Mancera, Mayor of Mexico City The decision this week by European leaders to fast-track ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change is historic. It is now certain that less than one year will have passed from the beginning…
By Mark Watts, Executive Director C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, & Hany Fam, EVP Enterprise Partnerships, Mastercard More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas (by 2050 this number is expected to rise to two thirds) and cities are responsible for more than 70 percent of global energy related carbon dioxide emissions….
Today, C40 announced the 35 finalists competing in ten urban climate action categories for the fourth-annual C40 Cities Awards, sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies and BYD. The winners will be announced on December 1, 2016, at a ceremony in Mexico City, held alongside the sixth biennial C40 Mayors Summit. The C40 Cities Awards globally recognizes cities for their…
C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group announced today in Rio de Janeiro that Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has been elected to succeed Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes as C40 Chair. The C40 Steering Committee elected her unanimously to the position, where she will provide strategic direction and governance to the organization. “C40 member cities are determining the…
Climate change is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, risk to London. I want to put our city at the leading edge of the fight against this risk. But London can’t take on this challenge alone. That’s why I have joined forces with leaders of world cities to find ways that we can…
Yesterday, C40 and the Singapore National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) held an event at the World Cities Summit (WCS) 2016, a global platform for government leaders and industry experts to address liveable and sustainable city challenges and forge new partnerships. “From Ambition to Action: The Vital Role of Cities in Achieving the Paris Agreement” drew together…
By Morten Kabell, Mayor of Technical and Environmental Affairs of Copenhagen Cooperation. Including our citizens. Getting the companies on board. These are all ways that we – that I – have talked about partnerships and cooperation in the past. Yet there has always been a tiny bit of doubt hovering in the back of my mind. This…
By James Alexander, Head of C40 Finance and Economic Development Initiative Across the world, mayors of C40 member cities are developing their visions for a low carbon future. Yet they frequently report, as revealed in C40’s Unlocking Climate Action in Megacities report, that a lack of access to finance is one of the biggest barriers preventing cities…
By Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney This week, the City of Sydney agreed on ambitious new targets for 50 per cent of electricity used in the local area to come from renewable energy by 2030, and for net zero emissions by 2050. We have already committed to our long-term vision, Sustainable Sydney 2030, a program to…
7,100 Cities From 119 Countries Join Together in Historic Collaboration to Accelerate Climate Action
By Mark Watts, Executive Director, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group & Gino Van Begin, Secretary General, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability Note: this article was originally published on EcoWatch When UN Secretary-General Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change Michael R. Bloomberg suggested creating a Compact of Mayors to mirror the UN program for…
Today, the world’s two primary city-led climate change and energy initiatives, the EU Covenant of Mayors and the Compact of Mayors, announced the formation of a new, first-of-its-kind global initiative of cities and local governments leading in the fight against climate change. This single initiative will create the largest global coalition of cities committed to…
By Mark Watts, Executive Director, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group The United States of America and China are responsible for over one third of global greenhouse gas emissions. This month mayors and other urban leaders representing more than 60 Chinese and U.S. cities, gathered in Beijing at the second U.S.-China Climate-Smart Low-Carbon Cities Summit. These…
This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post. Citizens in most of the world’s cities might expect their mayor to take responsibility for collecting waste, running public transport, or regulating new development, but they might not consider food to be an issue for urban local government. Yet in October 2015, when Mayor of Milan Giuliano Pisapia…