C40, mayors who want to protect the climate are all gathered in Mexico City

80 mayors representing over 600 million people are in Mexico City to discuss and improve urban solutions to climate change. This is the sixth edition of the C40 summit.

In these days, in Mexico City, it’s possible to meet mayors of the most famous cities in the world, of every continent’s megacities. They’re gathered to discuss and advance solutions for addressing “the biggest global threat of this century”: climate change. The Mexican metropolis and capital is indeed the host city of the sixth biennial C40 Mayors Summit, the first to take place after the famous COP21 – which resulted in the Paris Agreement –, which will see mayors address together the problem of climate change. This summit is the result of ten years of work by C40 that brought together 80 cities and metropolises that share problems and solutions to the most serious threats caused by global warming. Rising sea levels, desertification, and sea ice retreat.

michael bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor of the US city of New York © Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

C40 can rely on more than 80 mayors

The Mexican conference is held from 30 November to 2 December and will feature a series of roundtable discussions and working sessions led by experts, who have the opportunity to discuss possible solutions and identify leadership roles in the fight against climate change. The event is hosted by Mayor of Mexico City Miguel Ángel Mancera and is led by C40 Chair, Mayor of Rio de Janeiro Eduardo Paes. The previous edition of the summit was held by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of world’s most famous personalities working to fight against global warming.

The first C40 after the COP 21

“The C40 Mayors Summit in Mexico City will bring together the largest group of local leaders fighting climate change since COP21”, Bloomberg said. “C40 cities around the world are leading the way in reducing carbon emissions and protecting people from potential risks. Their work is setting a strong example for others”.

Today we’re far from reaching the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global temperature rise, but, in spite of this, cities are doing a good job because they can take swift and effective action”, C40 Strategic Programme Manager Caterina Sarfatti told LifeGate in an interview. “This is also because citizens are prone to address mayors when they’re in need. They address them when a natural disaster, such as a flood, takes place”.

80 megacities, 600 million people

Italy will be represented by the mayors of three cities: Milan, Rome and Venice, one of the most threatened cities by rising sea levels. Megacities include the immense Lagos, Nigeria, and world’s fastest growing urban area Karachi, Pakistan, with its 21 million inhabitants and a growth rate of more than 80 percent in ten years.

In the night of 1st December C40 cities awards will be given as a global recognition for cities that are demonstrating climate action leadership. “Cities are essential to achieving the ambition of the Paris Agreement, and C40 cities – representing more than 600 million people and 25% of global GDP – have a particularly important role to play”, Mancera and Paes said in a joint statement. “The pace and scale of action needs to increase dramatically, particularly in sectors most critical to mitigation and adaptation: buildings, transport, energy, land use and waste”.

A place where to share solutions against climate change

There are cities that set the example. RotterdamHo Chi Minh, and Milan have already launched a series of smart solutions that protect them from extreme weather conditions and project them into the future. The event to take place in Mexico City is the perfect opportunity for sharing them with other megacities. To exchange opinions, suggestions and turn the cities that are going to host most of the world’s population in the future into places where people don’t have a negative impact on the planet.

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