Paris, FR: The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40), and its Chair Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, have been recognised with this year’s European Lung Foundation (ELF) Award for their commitment to ensuring that citizens of large global cities are able to breathe clean air.
The award, which recognises individuals or organisations that have made a contribution to services in human health in the respiratory field, will be presented during the International Congress of the European Respiratory Society in Paris (erscongress.org/) from September 14-19, 2018.
The first woman to be elected Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo took office in April 2014. Her agenda is focused on social inclusion, sustainable development, solidarity, citizen participation and innovation, essential topics in building the Paris of tomorrow.
After co-hosting the Climate Summit for Local Leaders in December 2015 with Michael Bloomberg, another former ELF Award winner, she was elected as the Chair of C40 Cities, the leading network of the 96 most important cities in the world committed to addressing climate change and air quality.
The core mission and activities of C40 embody the ‘breathe clean air’ message of Healthy Lungs for Life, the flagship ELF/ERS public awareness campaign, by supporting the cities in its network to collaborate and take the lead on tackling air pollution and climate change.
Through a range of programmes and activities, C40 supports the cities in its network to collaborate and lead on meaningful, measurable and sustainable action to tackle air pollution and climate change. It supports cities to develop and implement ambitious action plans and, through the Women4Climate initiative, is mentoring and empowering the next generation of young women to lead climate and air quality projects in C40 cities.
With the ERS International Congress taking place in Paris, ELF and ERS are delighted that Ms Hidalgo will accept the award on behalf of the organisation at City Hall on the morning of September 19.
ELF Chair, Isabel Saraiva, herself a patient living with a lung condition, stated “Air quality is no longer just an environmental issue – it is a health issue. The Healthy Lungs for Life campaign highlights that we all need to breathe in good quality air in order to have healthy lungs – something that is especially true for people with lung conditions. As Chair of ELF, I am proud to present this Award to Anne Hidalgo on behalf of C40, in recognition of the organisation’s work to help the millions of people living in major cities across the globe to ‘breathe clean air’”.
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