COP26: 1,000 cities seize agenda with carbon neutral vow

The ‘net zero’ pledge was hailed as one of the most significant commitments likely to emerge from the COP26 summit
Cop26 - Glasgow
The sun setting behind tower cranes and the London skyline
PA
Ross Lydall @RossLydall2 November 2021

More than 1,000 world cities vowed on Tuesday to halve their emissions by the end of the decade and go carbon neutral by 2050 as local leaders sought to seize the green agenda from national governments.

The “net zero” pledge – designed to keep global temperatures beneath the 1.5C maximum needed to avert climate catastrophe - was hailed as one of the most significant commitments likely to emerge from the COP26 summit.

It came as Sadiq Khan was confirmed as the C40’s new chairman, with a pledge to spend two-thirds of its funding on developing nations known as the Global South, where the impacts of climate change are most acute.

Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles and the outgoing chairman of the C40 group of cities committed to addressing climate change, told the Evening Standard: “This might feel like a hopeless moment but we are bringing a lot of hope.

“I think it will be the biggest commitment made at this COP, outside of national pledges. All 97 [C40 members] are part of it. It will be over 1,000 [cities]. I set that goal and last week we passed that number. It’s not just a vague pledge.”

A conference at Glasgow city chambers was being shown examples of how world-leading cities such as Copenhagen had moved to zero-carbon public transport systems, energy supplies and building controls.

A total of 1,049 cities or local councils representing 722m residents have signed up to C40’s “Race to Zero” campaign and will “pursue ambitious climate action”. This has the potential to reduce global emissions by at least 1.4 gigatons annually by 2030.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan with his Paris counterpart Anne Hidalgo as they headed up to Glasgow for COP26
AP

Mr Garcetti said: “I don’t think I’m overstating things when I say C40 is probably the most impactful environmental group in the world right now, because it has that combination of activists and leaders.

“People will happily make pledges but mayors don’t farm out the work to others – they have to deliver the transport systems, the electricity, the building codes.”

Mark Watts, executive director of C40, told the Standard: “The significance is that it’s a genuinely science-based target.

“It has been calculated back from a carbon budget for each city, based on a fair share of the global carbon budget to stay under 1.5 degrees. It’s what we should be expecting from every Government coming into this COP. Unfortunately, the last time I looked, there was one Government – the Gambia – that has got this target.

“We are going to have 1,000 cities, starting with the core of the C40 – the really major cities in the world – that have set these genuinely science-based targets and, in the case of the C40 cities, are on track, because we measure constantly what is being delivered each year.”

Mr Khan said he would expand his Breathe London air quality monitoring campaign to all 97 C40 member cities, under a Breathe Global banner.

He said: “I am committed to doing more to support cities in the global south, which are on the frontline - facing the worst consequences of climate change. I want to ensure C40’s resources help all C40 cities around the world speed up their efforts to tackle the climate emergency, toxic air pollution and address inequalities within and between our cities with inclusive climate action.

“The world is at a crossroads. We must ensure we help cities around the globe become greener, fairer and more sustainable.”

Mayor Garcetti urged Mr Khan to travel widely as head of the “action group” and to share ideas from London, such as the ultra-low emission zone.

“I hope he gets the chance to be on the road,” Mr Garcetti said. “It’s a difficult thing, because your constituents never want you to leave.

“But there is a power for London in Mayor Khan being a global leader. He will be able to bring back ideas, investments and people from his global engagements.

“His ultra-low emission zone has inspired me and his fellow mayors. He had every reason to not expand that, and I think it was a very brave commitment that history will judge well.”

UK cities signing up to the C40 net zero pledge include Greater Manchester, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol and Glasgow.

Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, the UN Special Envoy for Climate Ambition and Solutions, said: “Mayors have reaffirmed today that cities are national governments’ most important allies in the climate fight.

“Cities are not only answering the call to address the climate crisis; they are setting an example for the rest of the world to follow.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in