The C40 Blog serves as the paper of record for C40 and provides a
platform for sharing important, diverse perspectives on current
issues from C40 Mayors, field staff, partners and international
thought leaders.
Cities are well-known as hubs of innovation and creativity. This entrepreneurial spirit isn’t just confined to the private sector operating in the world’s great metropolises, but is present across city administrations who show remarkable creativity and leadership. Across the globe, city governments have, often from necessity, found creative solutions to address some of their most pressing challenges.
C40 is delighted to welcome Tel Aviv-Yafo to the C40 City Solutions Platform (CSP), a programme that brings together cities and solution providers to co-create and implement innovative solutions to major climate challenges. Athens, Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, Seattle and Sydney are already members of the programme.
The IPCC’s “Global Warming of 1.5°C” report calls for rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society, including our cities, in order to mitigate the impact of global climate change and build a safer, more sustainable world for us all. Given the short-time frame and scale of change that is needed, evidence-based decision-making is now more important than ever to ensure that actions taken will deliver on the goals of the Paris Agreement. Underpinning this is the need for access to high quality, timely and interactive data on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
On October 29th, Venice was submerged under 156 cm (just over 5 feet) of high tide or “aqua alta”, flooding three-quarters of the city including public thoroughfares and landmarks including the famous St. Mark’s Basilica, closing schools and public transportation and challenging the runners of the historic Venice marathon.
The IPCC's ‘Global Warming 1.5 degrees’ report published last month was a clear warning of the ambitious action needed to prevent the worst of climate change. A swift shift away from fossil fuels is needed, but as Christiana Figueres observes, ‘the determinants of whether we head for 2C or for 1.5C are mainly political; they are not technical or economic.’ This observation rang true when visiting China last week to deliver the annual C40 Zero Emission Vehicle network workshop. Bringing together delegates from 11 global cities to problem solve and work together to transition to zero emission vehicles.
