Urban leaders gather in Johannesburg for C40 Cities climate summit
Summit will bring key leaders together including C40 chair Michael Bloomberg and UN climate chief Christiana Figueres
Leaders of the world’s biggest cities have gathered in South Africa today for the C40 Mayors Summit and discussions will focus on sustainability and urban solutions to climate change.
The Summit will provide a forum for global leaders to share best practise and deliberate on how cities can become energy efficient and boost climate change adaptation and mitigation methods.
The three-day summit, launched today in Johannesburg, is the fifth biennial meeting and is the first time it has been convened in Africa.
Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is the C40 Cities chairperson and said cities "account for 70 per cent of the world's carbon emissions, a figure that'll rise if nothing is done because the total population of the world's cities is going to double by 2050.”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Bloomberg as the UN special envoy for cities and climate change last week and it is hoped he can spearhead a new wave of action on the issue.
The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group was created in 2005 by former London mayor Ken Livingstone to help the leaders share policy and technological innovations.
It began as a coalition of 18 megacities and has now expanded to include 58 cities across five continents representing 1 in 12 people worldwide.
Christiana Figueres, the UN climate chief, is set to attend this year’s summit, and will deliver a keynote speech on Wednesday.
