Today, ten global cities from 5 continents, representing 58 million people and more than US$ 3 trillion GDP, join first-mover Rio de Janeiro in announcing their compliance with the Compact of Mayors in advance of the COP21 climate negotiations.
The cities of Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Copenhagen, Melbourne, New York, Oslo, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, Stockholm, Sydney and Washington, DC reached compliance with ambitious climate action plans, and achievement builds on years of local efforts to combat climate change through membership in the city networks, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40), ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) and the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), founding partners of the Compact.
The Compact of Mayors is gaining momentum, and is the world’s largest effort by city leaders to pledging to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions, enhance resilience to climate change, and track their progress transparently.
To date 165 cities, representing nearly 243 million people, have committed to the Compact – and the number is quickly growing. Recently, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that 15 new U.S. cities committed to the Compact of Mayors, and set a goal of having 100 U.S. cities committed in advance of COP21 at the end of November.
"Through the Compact of Mayors, cities are making a major contribution toward global progress on climate change,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change. “They are also showing their national governments that more ambitious goals are both possible and achievable. And – perhaps most importantly of all – they are proving that fighting climate change and increasing economic growth go hand in hand."
C40 Chair, Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes noted, “I applaud the ten cities for their bold commitment and leadership so critically important in the months leading up to the UN climate summit. The more cities that commit to the Compact and move quickly and decisively to meet all its requirements, the bigger impact we will have. I look forward to welcoming more cities into our growing coalition."
