Mayors from around the world have announced support for a Global Green New Deal, which will drive “an urgent, fundamental and irreversible transfer” of global resources away from fossil fuels and into action that averts the climate emergency.

Speaking at the C40 Mayors World Summit in Copenhagen this week, C40 Cities chair-elect and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said that when it comes to climate action, no-one is doing more than cities “but no-one is doing enough”.

Cutting emissions

A broad coalition of youth climate activists, as well as representatives from business and civil society, have also announced their support for the Global Green New Deal vision.

The gathering of 80 mayors and hundreds of climate leaders at the Summit committed to cutting emissions from the sectors most responsible for the climate crisis – transportation, buildings, industry and waste – to keep global heating below the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement.

Mayor Garcetti, alongside Paris mayor and current C40 chair, Anne Hidalgo, and Frank Jensen, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, issued a clear challenge to national leaders, CEOs and investors that haven’t yet matched the level of ambition detailed in the Global Green New Deal.

"When it comes to climate action, no one is doing more than cities but no-one is doing enough”

“As mayors, our first priority is to protect the safety of our citizens,” said Hidalgo. “It will soon be four years since the Paris Agreement was signed in our city. World leaders met in New York just last month and once again failed to agree anything close to the level of action necessary to stop the climate crisis."

More than 100 cities around the world are now committed to delivering climate action plans consistent with the 1.5°C global heating target.

The defining principles of the Global Green New Deal include:

• A recognition of the global climate emergency.
• A commitment to keeping global heating below the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement by curbing emissions in the sectors that are the greatest contributors to the climate crisis: transportation, buildings and waste.
• A commitment to putting inclusive climate action at the centre of all urban decision-making. This includes protecting livelihoods, helping end poverty, improving lives, building more equitable societies and securing a just transition for those working in high-carbon industries.
• A pledge to drive an urgent, fundamental and irreversible transfer of global resources away from fossil fuels and into action that averts the climate emergency, thereby building a green and fair ecological civilisation.
• An invitation to partners – political leaders, CEOs, trade unions, investors and civil society – to also recognise the global climate emergency and help cities deliver on science-based action to overcome it. Supporting cities say they will work particularly closely with young people to help shape the sustainable future they want, providing a route from making their voice heard on the streets into shaping policies and projects in city government.

You might also like:

• Cities commit to ‘clean construction’ to cut building emissions by up to 44 per cent
• 30 cities say their greenhouse gas emissions have peaked
• Low-carbon cities a $24 trillion opportunity