Ten cities win awards at first C40 event

London Mayor Boris Johnson drew peals of laughter and much applause on Wednesday when he praised C40 for showing new ways of making the world’s cities better places for everyone.

“We in London will shamelessly steal your ideas,” said the mayor at the C40 and Siemens City Climate Leadership Awards.  London, he said, already had a Ho Chi Minh city bypass, and had copied the Paris public bicycle scheme, imported Spanish trees from Belgium to help green parts of the city, and had “stolen” its new cable car project in the east of the city from Austria.

Addressing an audience of mayors, business leaders and leading urban thinkers and authorities from around Europe and the world, many laughed when he welcomed them into “the mysterious portals” of a new building called The Crystal, a futuristic model “green” building. The home of the Siemens sustainable cities initiative, Johnson praised it as a towering success.

London, he added, also had every intention of also taking the ideas of the winning cities announced on Wednesday.

The winners, which were selected by an independent panel of seven judges made up of former city mayors, architects and representatives of the World Bank, C40 and Siemens, were as follows:

1. Bogota (Urban Transportation)
2. Copenhagen (Carbon Measurement & Planning)
3. Melbourne (Energy Efficient Built Environment)
4. Mexico City (Air Quality)
5. Munich (Green Energy)
6. New York City (Adaptation & Resilience)
7. Rio de Janeiro (Sustainable Communities)
8. San Francisco (Waste Management)
9. Singapore (Intelligent City Infrastructure)
10. Tokyo (Finance & Economic Development)

Minutes after Johnson donned his trademark white cycle helmet and took leave of the ceremony, the C40 Chair and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, beamed into the gathering via a special video link.

“The C40 & Siemens City Climate Leadership Awards are dedicated to the idea that cities – by refusing to wait for action from national governments and international bodies – can lead the way in addressing the risks posed by climate change,” said Bloomberg. “Cities are where the most progress is being made and that’s because mayors have to deliver results. Using innovative local approaches, cities are having an impact on climate change globally,” he said congratulating the award winners.

C40 is a network of 63 large cities from around the world committed to implementing meaningful and sustainable climate-related actions locally that will help address climate change globally.

“From New York to New Delhi we are at risk of climate change,” he said. C40, which recognises that cities consume over two-thirds of the world’s energy and account for more than 70 percent of global carbon emissions, works with cities around the world to cut pollution and energy consumption. Under Bloomberg, who pointed out that he only had 118 days left in office, its steering committee is represented by  Berlin, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, London, New York City, Sao Paulo, Seoul and Tokyo.

Officials were at pains to point out that Wednesday’s awards process would not end there.

“The good news for the other finalist cities is that the awards process for 2013 doesn’t end here,” said a spokesman. “C40 and Siemens have announced the Citizen’s Choice Award that will allow the general public to vote for the project they believe should have won an award.”

The votes will be tallied at the City Climate Leadership Awards website and a winner will be announced in November. For further details on the winners and how to vote, see www.cityclimateleadershipawards.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNs2fVZdkwA