The work of mayors is key for the UN Cop 30 climate summit to meet its main goals of strengthening multilateralism, accelerating action and ensuring the fight against climate change benefits people on the ground, executive director Ana Toni said during a pre-Cop event in Rio de Janeiro on Monday.
"We can only achieve those three goals with mayors," Toni told delegates gathered for the C40 World Mayors Summit and Cop 30 Local Leaders Forum, which runs from 3-5 November. "That's why in Brazil we have put the subnational role of mayors and state governments on the frontline of our own nationally determined contributions."
Members of C40, a global network of cities committed to fighting climate change, outlined concrete actions to reduce emissions and make their cities resilient to a changing climate, that they will deliver over the next 12 months. For example, Freetown in Sierra Leone has already planted 1.2mn trees, with a target of 5mn by 2030. In Australia, Melbourne is moving away from gas and will be 100pc renewable-powered by 2026, lord mayor Nicholas Reece said.
C40 cities have pledged to halving their fossil fuel emissions by 2030, and 75pc have already peaked their emissions and are reducing per capita emissions five times faster than the rest of the world, mayor of London and C40 Cities co-chair Sadiq Khan said.
Mayor of Phoenix Kate Gallego said that 50 US cities "committed to ambitious climate action" are attending the forum.
The US federal government will not send high-level officials to Cop 30. "President Trump will not jeopardize our country's economic and national security to pursue vague climate goals that are killing other countries," White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said.
