C40 celebrates decade anniversary with addition of Chinese megacities

C40 is celebrating its 10-year anniversary with the addition of two Chinese megacities Guangzhou and Nanjing.

The network of over 80 megacities, committed to climate change solutions, now represents more than 600 million people and more than a quarter of the world’s GDP.

Guangzhou and Nanjing together represent nearly 20 million urban citizens. C40 Chair Eduardo Paes, Mayor of Rio de Janiero, said:”Welcoming Guangzhou and Nanjing to the C40 during the U.S.-China Climate Leaders Summit seems very fitting. The addition of these two great Chinese cities enriches the fabric of our global network as we seek to create livable cities.”

Mayor Paes added: “For the first time, 50 percent of C40’s membership is from the Global South, which as a Mayor of the Global South, I am very proud of.”

Michael Bloomberg, C40 Board President and UN Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, said: “By joining the C40 network, Guangzhou and Nanjing are building on the leadership Chinese cities are showing in the run-up to this year’s climate talks in Paris. Their efforts will help China reach its emissions goals.”

In its 10 Years of Results booklet, released to coincide with the anniversary, the organisation reveals that 75 percent of C40 cities have been able to take new, better or faster climate actions as a result of participating in C40 networks.

The organisation was founded in October 2005 when then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone convened representatives from 18 megacities to forge an agreement on cooperatively reducing climate pollution. By 2006. ‘C20’ had grown to 40 cities. Now there are 80 cities encompassing 600 million people. The report reveals that over 9,000 climate actions have been taken by C40 members and that a 2 gigaton CO2E reduction is forecast by 2020.

Bill Clinton, former US President and founding member of C40, said: “C40 cities have shown the world how to grow economies, create jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Today the C40 is the world’s pre-eminent network of cities working to address climate change, connecting the regions of the world, building on each other’s experiences and signalling to national governments that tangible solutions and and measurable results are possible.”

President Clinton, Mayor Paes, Mr Bloomberg and Matthew Pencharz, Deputy Mayor of London for Environment & Energy, were among those who toasted C40’s ten-year anniversary at an event in New York City.

President Clinton pledged at the C40 event: “The next ten years will make the last 10 years look like we were standing still.” Mr Bloomberg, former Mayor of New York, hailed the fact that the Big Apple had both cut carbon emissions by almost a fifth in the last decade and led the way in environmental job creation.

The report also cites new C40 research demonstrating that cities are three times more likely to take climate action if they have set a robust reduction target or goal.