“Protecting the climate is not a choice between our environment and our economy,” say US mayors

More than 331 US mayors representing 62 million Americans have signed up to the commitments of the Paris Climate Agreement through the Climate Mayors initiative.

Co-founded by the mayor of Los Angeles, and the former mayors of Philadelphia and Houston three years ago, the number of cities in the network grew five-fold after President Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement earlier this month.

“Climate change touches us all and unites us all,” Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles, said at a press conference during the US Conference of Mayors’ Summer meeting in Miami Beach. “We are powerful nationally and internationally when we band together. This is the power of cities exercising their power collectively and that power is growing.”

Garcetti said that he wants the network to help mayors make sure the pledges they take become real and build political will to find methodologies that work. Mayors from 44 states and all of the nation’s ten largest cities have now signed up to Climate Mayors.

“When we lost presidential leadership we gained the cities’ momentum,” said Garcetti. “If we don’t do it who will? Today we are proud to come together.”

The mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee, Madeline Rogero, emphasised that mid-sized cities are also crucial to combat climate change and explained her city’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by both the city and community by 20 percent by 2020.

“I’m pleased to report that we are making meaningful progress on those goals while our economy continues to thrive, the quality of life improves for our residents,” she said. “Acting on climate creates economic opportunity, protects our citizens and positions our cities for long-term success.”

Earlier in the day the US Conference of Mayors, together with the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, released a survey highlighting the action mayors are taking to increase renewable energy, energy efficiency and low-carbon transport options.

Some of the key findings include:

• 69 percent of responding cities generate or purchase renewable electricity to power city buildings or operations. An additional 22 percent are considering doing so.
• 63 percent already buy green vehicles, including hybrid, electric, natural gas, and biodiesel, for their municipal fleets. 30 percent are considering it.
• 71 percent have energy efficiency policies for new municipal buildings, and 66 percent for existing municipal buildings.

Responses to the survey have come from 66 cities, ranging in size from 21,000 to 8.5 million and together spend more than US$1.2 billion annually in electricity.