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Global mayors renew efforts to tackle climate change

13 October 2015

by Tom Teodorczuk

Mayors from 19 global cities convened at the US State Department in Washington DC to tackle climate change at an initiative hosted by John Kerry, US Secretary of State, and Michael Bloomberg, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change.

Kerry and Bloomberg spoke at a lunch for their ‘Our Cities, Our Climate‘ initiative and attended working sessions with the mayors. They included mayors from North Dhaka, Bangladesh and Mexico City alongside US mayors from Orlando, Boulder, and Detroit.

The ‘Our Cities, Our Climate’ initiative is a partnership between Bloomberg Philanthropies and the US Department of State that is uniting mayors and city officials from around the world to discuss how to protect the planet and share best practices in the run-up to December’s United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties in Paris (COP21).

Kerry told the mayors and the 18 sustainability directors: “Today, more and more of our cities are becoming ‘laboratories of leadership’. Most city governments are smaller; they’re more nimble than their federal counterparts. So city leaders are frankly uniquely positioned to experiment with bold new ideas in all kinds of policy areas.”

Following speeches from Kerry and Bloomberg, a panel comprising the mayors of Vancouver, Lagos and Yokohama discussed their cities’ approaches to climate change policy. Fumiko Hayashi, Mayor of Yokohama, also spoke earlier in the day at a Newsmakers news conference at the National Press Club together with Marty Walsh, Mayor of Boston and Ethan Berkowitz, Mayor of Anchorage, about how their cities are providing solutions to the global climate crisis. “Cities in Asia have a duty to transform not only the lifestyle of their citizens but also society and economy with their climate change initiatives,” said Hayashi.

Walsh championed his city’s environmental record, hailing its zero waste plan, efficiency measures and greener infrastructure.”I’m proud to be mayor of a city that is a strong leader in taking strong climate action,” he said. “Since the adoption of the 2007 Executive Order on Climate Action, our city has taken action to achieve deep reductions in greenhouse gases and prepare us for the inevitable impact of climate change. Boston is setting the example in sustainability for other cities in the northeast and beyond.”

Walsh added that when he met with Pope Francis together with 60 other mayors in the Vatican last July to discuss climate change and human trafficking, “The Pope said this issue is not going to be resolved in the halls of national governments and not going to be resolved in the UN but that it’s going to be resolved in the cities and towns around the world by different mayors who take this seriously.”

Berkowitz believed the onus is on cities to supply environmental policy fixes that their national counterparts cannot provide. “We live with climate change every day because we’re the gateway to the Artic which has seen massive climate change and it’s important for us to take a leadership role,” he said. “Anchorage is blessed with having abundant renewable resources and if we can find ways to lead the way on compressed gas vehicles or electric vehicles, that’s something we can aspire to.”

Asked what makes cities ready to take action on climate change when compared with disunity existing in federal government, Berkowitz responded: “When you actually have to deal with people, you can’t pander to ignorance and you can’t play to fears…mayors can’t wait for Washington and for the global capitals to get their act together. We have to start acting now.”

This sentiment was echoed by Akinwunmi Ambode, Mayor of Lagos, in the panel discussion. “You cannot afford to wait for any externalities–even national government–in order to start facing the challenge of climate issues,” he said. “Cities must come together to act to avert catastrophe. Lagos has 21 million people and some places are below sea level so it’s even more imperative for us to act decisively.”

But Gregor Robertson, Mayor of Vancouver, said it was critical for local and national governments to forge constructive relationships. He said: “Cities can meet the goal of becoming 100 percent renewable in the years to come but we need the support of our federal governments and that support means real partnerships between national governments and cities. The cities that are really advancing right now, like Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Stockholm are very aligned with their national governments and that makes it tough for cities to compete who are at odds with national government.”

He added: “The government of Canada needs to step up on the global stage and takes bold positions and real commitments to reduce our environmental impact globally. We’ve been laggard on that and frankly that has been embarrassing for us. I’m hopeful that Canada becomes a constructive contributor at that level globally because that makes a difference locally.”

Robertson later told Cities Today of the event:”It was good to have the US Secretary of State host us and express his support and leadership over this big global challenge that we’re facing and for cities to be able to express the importance of being supported on the front lines, whatever agreement gets made in Paris.”

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