Tag: GHG Emissions

2016 was a monumental year for C40, our member cities and our mayors. Not only did the Paris Agreement enter into force less than one year after COP21, but we also saw the number of C40 member cities grow to 90, representing more than 650 million citizens, and our Steering Committee unanimously elected the first-ever woman C40 Chair, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, to lead the organisation. Below, we look back at ten key moments that made 2016 a very productive and important year. 

BYD first learned about C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group when the city of Shenzhen won the 2014 C40 Cities Award in the Urban Transportation category. Our synergy with Shenzhen began when the city was the first in the world to embrace electrified public transportation by adding substantial fleets of electric buses and taxis in 2011. Shenzhen has since continued to grow their electric fleet, with outstanding results in GHG cuts and a marked improvement in its air quality. In addition to the thrill of seeing Shenzhen recognized as a global climate action leader, their win at the C40 Awards presented us with an invaluable opportunity to better understand C40’s laudable efforts to boost climate action at the municipal level and elevate mayors to a position to be able to make the necessary changes to revert the dire conditions of our environment while improving the everyday lives of city dwellers.

According to a 2012 report by The Rockefeller Foundation and Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors, there is a $72 billion investment opportunity in commercial energy efficiency retrofits globally that could yield 848 trillion BTUs in energy savings and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 175 million metric tons per year, which is approximately equivalent to the annual GHG emissions from 46 coal-fired power plants. In cities like New York, energy and GHG savings lie in the multi-family housing segment, where 67 percent of the buildings required by law to measure and report their energy usage, are multi-family buildings. That is why C40’s Sustainable Infrastructure Finance Network, brought together policy and technical energy efficiency finance experts from New York City, Boston and Washington, D.C. to share best practices and lessons learned in financing multi-family retrofits. 

Cities around the world believe the emergence of the low-carbon economy presents significant economic opportunity to collaborate with businesses, develop new industry sectors and build resilience, according to a new report published today by C40 partners CDP and AECOM.

More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas (by 2050 this number is expected to rise to two thirds) and cities are responsible for more than 70 percent of global energy related carbon dioxide emissions.