25 November 2010 | Luca Del Buono

 

The World Mayors Climate Change Summit has come to a close after great success in Mexico City, with the signing of a voluntary pact committing them to reduce urban greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).

The Mexico City Pact was signed at the climate change summit just before this year's Conference of the Parties (COP16) in Cancun which starts November 29. It is hoped this will send out a unified message to governments and delegates going to the climate conference, increasing cooperation among countries.
The pact has attracted the signatures of 138 mayors from some of the world's largest urban areas including Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Paris, Vancouver and Jakarta.

Marcelo Ebrard, Mayor of Mexico City and chair of the World Mayors Council on Climate Change said in a statement: "The world's cities must join together and put their data in the same pot."

With over half the world's population now living in cities, Ebrard added: "mayors and urban leaders are on the frontline of the planet's fight against a changing climate."

A key factor of the pact is the formation of a monitoring and verification mechanism called the carbonn Cities Climate Registry (cCCR), which will be operated by Germany's Bonn Center for Local Climate Action and Reporting.

The cCCR is designed to create consistency in the reporting of urban GHG emissions as well as keeping track of local projects which combat climate change. City residents will be able to track how their city is performing, comparing the results of their cities fight against climate change, against how other cities' projects are doing around the world.

Elizabeth Gateau, secretary general of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) said in a statement: "The cCCR is a platform wherein cities can work together. Cities are ahead of the game of nations and are leading the global process combating climate change. The cCCR will be the official reporting mechanism of this leadership."

Nagpur, Cape Town, Mexico City, Calgary and Copenhagen have become the pioneer cities for cCCR. These cities have already begun reporting on key actions, commitments and performances, which can be viewed at the cCCR website.

Martha Delgado, Mexico City's secretary for the environment, was interviewed by CNN reporter Percy von Lipinski on the eve of the mayor's summit, and said: "Last year in Copenhagen we realized that cities have a lot of opportunities and a lot of political will to fight against climate change. The Mayor of Mexico, as chairman of the World Mayors Council, asked his colleagues how to fight climate change and they decided to organize the World Mayor Climate Summit.

"Everyone is very excited to participate in this summit because they think that they are going to show national governments that it is possible to have commitments,"
Delgado continued by saying that the reason a mayor's summit is a pro-active idea in combating climate change, is because cities have a great capacity to address climate change. There are no legally binding global treaties to get tangled up in, and cause distress among conflicting ideas.

It is hoped that the Mexico City Pact will triumph due to the lack of legal binding. As well as this, cities are allowed to set their own pace, which is a great benefit for developing countries. cCCR has the added bonus of working on a small scale, and with figures like Ebraud leading the way, it is more likely that the Mexico City Pact will be a success.

Author: Charity Knight | Climate Action
Image: Marcelo_ebrard_casaubon | wikimedia/ creativecommons

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