Cities worldwide have taken the initiative to create programmes and plans to tackle the very serious threat of climate change. Here are some examples that other city planners, activists and leaders can learn from:
Aligning New York City with The Paris Climate Agreement
"This plan is the rst of its kind and lays out the pace, scale, and impact of the work we must do by 2020 to achieve this goal. It also commits us to work with other cities to develop a protocol to reduce our carbon footprint to zero" Mayor Bill de Blasio
Los Angeles - The Sustainable City pLAn
"The Sustainable City pLAn is a roadmap for a Los Angeles that is environmentally healthy, economically prosperous, and equitable in opportunity for all – now and over the next 20 years." - The pLAn
Paris Climate Action Plan
"The aim is to act rather than passively endure climate change, to obtain a better knowledge and understanding of the challenges in order to strengthen the resilience of the Parisian territory" - Climate Action Plan
Copenhagen Climate Adaptation Plan
"There is a need for extensive investments and thorough planning to meet the challenges that the changes in the climate pose for Copenhagen. But by acting at the right time we can minimise ex- penditure on preventing and rectifying damage, and climate adaptation may help to create green growth for Copenhagen" - Copenhagen Climate Adaptation Plan
Mexico City Climate Action Program
"Mexico City has assumed a forefront and leadership position on a national and global level in the design of tools and instruments focused on tackling the climate change challenge and reducing the social, environmental and economic risks" - Dr. Miguel A. Mancera Espinosa Head of Government of Mexico City
Further Resources For Cities
C40 Cities: Global Action Data
"C40 maintains a database of nearly 10,000 unique city climate actions spread across 11 city sectors, with approximately 3,000 actions reported in 2015 alone. The Global Action Data portal allows access to this data like never before" - C40
Deadline 2020
"The ambition of the Paris Agreement and of Deadline 2020 is to limit warming to 1.5 degrees, but the risk of further increases in temperature remains signi cant. Unless preventative action is taken, climate change-related natural disasters have been estimated to put at risk 1.3 billion people by 2050 and assets worth $158 trillion – double the total annual output of the global economy."- C40
Megacities Project
"The Megacities Carbon Project will develop and test methods for monitoring the greenhouse gas emissions of the largest human contributors to climate change: cities and their power plants"
- NASA/JPL
NAZCA - Non-State Actor Zone for Climate Action
"NAZCA aims to track the mobilization and action that are helping countries achieve and exceed their national commitments to address climate change" - UNFCCC
Covenant of Mayors for Climate Energy
"Heralded as the “world’s biggest urban climate and energy initiative” by Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete, the Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy brings together thousands of local and regional authorities voluntarily committed to implementing EU climate and energy objectives on their territory." - Covenant of Mayors for Climate Energy
12 major cities sign declaration to promote clean transit
"By pledging zero-emissions vehicles and more clean transit, participating cities will not only reduce GHG emissions, but could also make cities more physically attractive"