Mayor of London pledges commitment to international climate change co-operation

The C40 group of major international cities committed to tackling climate change, have voted the new Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, their honorary Deputy Chair - a new permanent position designed to take forward their shared agenda.

The chairmanship of the group will pass to the Mayor of Toronto, David Miller. The rotating chairmanship will ensure that the leadership of the group is rotated amongst all members in order to share expertise and fully represent global membership of the group.

The Mayor of London announced that as part of London's continued prominent commitment to the group, London will host a major C40 conference during his term of office - this will be developed in conjunction with the other C40 cities.

Although, the group secretariat will remain in London, the significant savings from the money that London contributed to the work of the C40 will now be directed to other climate change programmes.

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, said: 'I am delighted to be working with the Mayor of Toronto to co-ordinate and drive a common agenda across the C40 cities to reduce carbon emissions, and tackle climate change. London is a world leader in this area, and I am determined to see that the expertise and innovation being developed here is shared around the world.

'Equally, I see many excellent ideas coming from others cities that we want to learn much more about - I have already committed to introduce a public bike hire scheme in London similar to that developed in Paris, another C40 city. Cities across the world share the common threat of climate change, and cities create most of the carbon emissions that are causing it, so it is vital we continue to work together to accelerate action on this issue.'

Mayor Miller, said: 'I am proud to be able to lead the C40 Group and very much look forward to working closely with Mayor Johnson on this important initiative.

'Where national governments are falling short, cities are taking action on climate change and are achieving results. Through the C40, we have an opportunity to make a real and lasting difference on this pressing global issue.'

The C40 was set up in 2005 with the aim to accelerate cities' programmes to combat climate change.

The C40 cities have pledged to work together, to share best practice and to take action in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In order to achieve this, the C40 entered into a partnership arrangement with the Clinton Climate Initiative in 2006 to develop programmes that would that would help cities drive forward action.

Ira Magaziner, Chairman of the Clinton Climate Initiative, said: 'The Clinton Climate Initiative is proud to serve as the exclusive implementing partner of the C40. We look forward to working with Mayor Miller, Mayor Johnson, and the other C40 mayors to dramatically reduce urban greenhouse gas emissions.'

The C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group is comprised of the following cities: Addis Ababa, Athens, Bangkok, Beijing, Berlin, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Caracas, Chicago, Delhi, Dhaka, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Houston, Istanbul, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Karachi, Lagos, Lima, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Moscow, Mumbai, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Toronto, Tokyo, and Warsaw. London initiated the C40 group in 2005, and held the Chair of the C40 group from 2005 - June 2008.