Rep. Jim Moran, D-VA, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (L to R) hold a news conference announcing a partnership between Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Sierra Club to push for shutting down coal-fired power plants and replacing them with more environmentally friendly options aboard the Nina Dandy across from the GenOn coal-fired power plant in Alexandria, Virginia, on July 21, 2011. (File/UPI/Roger L. Wollenberg) |
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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- A report released by the C40 Climate Leadership Group today claims major cities are making significant progress in the battle against climate change, having doubled their environmental initiatives in the last year.
Many leaders, including U.N. head Ban Ki-Moon, have been frustrated by the lack of consensus among the world's nations on climate change policy, but Michael Bloomberg, president of the C40 group, thinks the world's biggest cities can make significant progress toward solving environmental problems.
"There's nothing inconsistent between what we do at the city level and what he would like to get done at a national level," Bloomberg told reporters this week. "Mayors don't have time to debate politics, they have to deliver results, and mayors around the world increasingly recognize the threats climate change poses to our cities."
C40, which is comprised of some of the world's largest cities, including New York, Rio de Janeiro, London and Sydney, held their annual summit in Johannesburg, South Africa today.
“C40’s networks and efforts on measurement and reporting are accelerating city-led action at a transformative scale around the world," C40 chairman and Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes said on the report's release.
The former New York City mayor was recently appointed as Special Envoy to the U.N. for Climate Change and Cities. Bloomberg has pledged to use his position in the U.N. to replicate the kind of forward-thinking policies fostered by C40.
[Bloomberg]
[Sydney Morning Herald]
