At the Climate Summit for Local Leaders held today in Paris during the COP21 negotiations, the partners of the Compact of Mayors announced the initiative’s aggregate impact: the 400 city commitments made since its launch would realize over 50% of the 2020 global potential for urban GHG emissions reductions.
Hosted by Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, and Michael R. Bloomberg, the U.N Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change—in partnership with C40 and other global city networks – the Climate Summit for Local Leaders was the largest global convening of mayors, governors and local leaders focusing on climate change.
"The Compact of Mayors reflects the commitment that cities are making to reduce carbon emissions and the crucial role they play in confronting climate change," said Bloomberg. "The more cities that take part in the Compact, the bigger impact it will have. I applaud all of the mayors who have joined, and look forward to welcoming more cities into our growing coalition."
A report published today also showed that Compact commitments could close 25% of the “gap” between national pledges for emissions reductions made in advance of this year’s COP21 summit, and those necessary to keep global warming below 2°C.
On this historic day, participants issued the Paris City Hall Declaration — a decisive contribution to COP21 — in which local leaders from five continents collectively committed to “deliver up to 3.7 gigatons of urban greenhouse gas emissions reductions annually by 2030 and support ambitious long-term climate goals such as a transition to 100 % renewable energy in our communities, or a 80 % greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 2050".
To date, 55 C40 cities have committed to the Compact, over half of which have achieved full compliance. The compliant cities are:
| Bogota | Philadelphia |
| Boston | Portland |
| Buenos Aires | Quito |
| Cape Town | Rio de Janeiro |
| Copenhagen | San Francisco |
| Durban | Seattle |
| Johannesburg | Seoul |
| London | Stockholm |
| Madrid | Sydney |
| Melbourne | Toronto |
| Mexico City | Vancouver |
| New York | Washington, D.C |
| Oslo |
The Compact was established by the world’s global city networks – C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40), ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) and the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) – with support from UN-Habitat and the U.N Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, Michael R. Bloomberg.
To learn more about the aggregate impact of the Compact of Mayors, explore the interactive infographic here and watch the video here.