More than 50 of the world’s leading cities are on track to help keep global heating below 1.5C and tackle the worst impacts of the climate crisis, according to a new report.
From mass tree-planting in Buenos Aires to new public transport networks in Mexico City, 54 of the world’s leading cities are now rolling out plans that will cut their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris agreement, according to a new study by the C40 cities network.
The findings will be presented this week by the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, at an event in the French capital to mark the fifth anniversary of the landmark climate agreement. “I was chair of C40 cities when Deadline 2020 was set, challenging global cities to set their own climate action plan that will protect residents, create green jobs, address inequality and build the future we want,” Hidalgo said ahead of the event.
“Now, five years on I am proud to see so many cities from all over the world launch their plans to keep global temperature rises below 1.5°C. This marks an important milestone in our efforts to accelerate climate action and demonstrates the incredible leadership from cities on this issue.”
The C40 report calculates that taken together the cities’ plans will prevent at least 1.9 gigatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions being released into the atmosphere between 2020 and 2030, equivalent to five times the UK’s annual emissions.
Michael Doust, programme director at C40, said the plans were a challenge to national governments to scale up their efforts and “collaborate with city leaders to tackle the escalating climate emergency”.
But he added that this was not just about climate action, it was also an effort to build a better future following the pandemic, from improved housing and secure green jobs to affordable, clean public transport and tackling inequality.