C40 appoints Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo as new chief

C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group announced on Monday in Rio de Janeiro that Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has been elected to succeed Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes as C40 Chair. Paes has also been leading the Group since 2013 while preparing his city for the Olympic Games.

Mark Watts, Executive Director of C40, told Cities Today from Rio that he credits Hidalgo’s election in part to the success of the local government summit during COP21, the United Nations’ round of climate negotiations in Paris last December when a global agreement on addressing climate change was signed.

Hidalgo told Cities Today that during the summit she hosted in Paris that C40 mayors, representing approximately 650 million people, are “capable of concrete and efficient actions, showing nation states the way”.  She said she plans to “put everything in her power to” respect the Paris Agreement during her time at the helm because the “world’s main challenges are faced by cities, solutions will be found in cities.”

Both Watts and Hidalgo pointed out that securing financing for cities, not just countries, will be essential for following through on the Paris Agreement. Hidalgo explained that as of now there is a global financing gap of US$4.1 to US$4.3 trillion “between current urban infrastructure and what cities need to keep up with projected growth”.

As a result, Hidalgo’s priority as C40 Chief will be finding the money for sustainable urban projects by “advocating for cities-based funding from the Green Climate Fund and other multi-national funds.” Watts explained that Hidalgo and C40 will do this by essentially pushing for “city determined contributions” mimicking and consistent with the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), or climate and emissions targets, set out by countries party to the Paris Agreement.

Watts said Hidalgo’s leadership will have “an awful lot of continuity” from Paes’ reign. He cited Paes’ work in having to “increase standards of buildings, how people travel around Rio, and how waste is managed” in the city in the run up to the Olympics. Hidalgo’s election in particular means an increased focus on intra-urban travel given Paris’ constantly improving mobility and pedestrian initiatives, according to Watts.

What Paes also brought was representation to the Global South, which also resulted in more member cities in China. Hidalgo said she “looks forward to…seizing opportunities to highlight regional issues on the global stage” while promoting North-South knowledge sharing and increased membership of African cities.

The Chair ceremonial handover will happen during the C40 Mayors Summit 2016, taking place in Mexico City from 30 November to 2 December. A permanent C40 office in Rio de Janeiro, will also be opened at the Museum of Tomorrow.