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Once cities have a full picture of their emissions, they can focus their efforts on attacking the major sources.
through small increases to their property taxes. New York City mandated energy efficiency steps for large buildings while also banning the dirtiest forms of heating oil and working with utilities to help building owners transition to cleaner fuels. Focus on what the city controls. Many city governments have significant power over the areas that most contribute to their carbon footprints. Cities are prioritizing their efforts around these areas, rather than waiting for national action or relying on national support. City governments tend to be more nimble than their counterparts at the national level, and they are using this flexibility to launch innovative initiatives aimed at combatting and adapting to climate change. In addition, having a record of local progress can help cities encourage national governments to give them more authority over factors that contribute to climate change. Spread what works. Cities can accelerate their progress on climate change by learning from one another. We in New York learned from the success of cities like Bogota, Colombia and Curitiba, Brazil when planning our bus rapid transit system. We learned from Copenhagen in our work on building pedestrian plazas and bike lanes. Collaboration between cities is helping many other powerful climate strategies spread
– from green building codes to energy-efficient street lighting. A new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows how urgent – and how incredibly important – this work is. Climate change is already taking a serious toll on ecosystems, on economies, and on lives – and its impacts will grow much worse unless we take decisive action to reduce emissions and adapt to risks now. Cities are stepping up to meet the challenge. The actions they are taking aren’t only improving our odds in the fight against climate change; they are also making cities healthier, cleaner, more livable and more economically vibrant – and helping prove that now, more than ever, what happens in cities really can change the world. As a Special Envoy, I will work with the Secretary-General and his team to draw more attention to what cities are doing – and mobilize new, concrete actions that cities can take, which will be announced at the Secretary-General’s climate summit in September.
Cities account for 70% of the world's total carbon footprint – a proportion that will rise if cities do nothing to curb their emissions since the total population of world cities is projected to double by mid-century.
New York City has set an ambitious goal of reducing its carbon footprint by 30% by 2030.
We have a great opportunity to make real headway – and I am honoured to be working closely with a SecretaryGeneral who recognizes how important cities are in the fight against climate change. ▲ 23