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Schwarzenegger tells mayors: ‘We need to inspire people to fight climate change’

24 June 2013

by Richard Forster

Former Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, today urged mayors to highlight to citizens that they need to adopt new technology in the fight against greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking at the fourth ceremony of the Covenant of Mayors in the European Parliament in Brussels, the film star and founder of the sustainable organisation for regions, R20, said that people can still live the same lives as before but just with cleaner technology.

“You can still have all the jacuzzis that you want, just install a solar panel,” he said. “You can still use your air conditioner, just use a smart thermostat. You can still watch your flat screen television, just use a more efficient model. You can still drive all your trucks, just use a hybrid or electric engine.”

Schwarzenegger added that he himself still drives military designed Humvee vehicles but that he has now installed them with hybrid or biofuel engines.

“The technology is now available,” he said. “Instead of lecturing people that they are part of the problem, we can inspire them and make them part of the solution. That’s people power.”

Schwarzenegger later announced a partnership between R20 and the EU Commission to create a universal way of measuring and reporting impacts of sub-national greenhouse gas solutions and climate change.

“We will be able to show the national governments and UN how much cities and states [provincial governments] are able to contribute,” he said. “This way we are working from the top down on the international level and also from the bottom up on the sub-national level. Eventually the two will meet in the middle that will create a critical mass.”

Later mayors from cities such as Ghent in Belgium, Heidelberg in Germany, and Tampere in Finland, presented concrete examples of how their citizens have benefitted from sustainable energy initiatives even during budget cuts.

Around 150 new cities and regions joined the Covenant of Mayors initiative this year through a virtual ICT-enabled signing ceremony which reflected the message of the speech of the EU Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, who emphasised “the power of digital tools to make cities greener and healthier for all European citizens”.

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