Most of the world’s greenhouse gas comes from cities – and that’s where we have to act.
Thousands of cities from six continents have created the world’s largest network to fight climate change. The cities in case represent more than 600 million inhabitants, over 8% of the world’s population. The basis of this alliance was set in Paris, during the 2015 climate talks.
“When mayors share a vision of a low-carbon future and roll up their sleeves, things get done,” said Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission vice-president and co-chairman of the new alliance, in a statement.
The other co-chairman is Michael Bloomberg, former New York City mayor and billionaire philanthropist.
“Today, the world’s cities are uniting their efforts to fight climate change behind a single global organization, something that has never before happened,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, who is also theUN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change. “In unity there is strength, and this new Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy will help accelerate the progress cities are making and magnify their influence on the global stage. This is a giant step forward in the work of achieving the goals that nations agreed to in Paris.”
The Paris Agreement is set to become binding when 55 countries representing 55 percent of global emissions ratify it, but as the motto goes – we should think global and act local. Having a city framework to share information and coordinate projects is a vital step towards curbing global emissions.
The platform hasn’t been publicly released and I haven’t been able to found a complete list of all the cities but we’ll keep you posted as more details are published.