This week, nearly fifty elected leaders of major cities and counties in the United States – including C40 Mayor Vincent Gray of Washington, DC – signed a pledge to protect their communities from extreme weather fueled by climate change.
When superstorm Sandy hit the East Coast of the United States last October, the incident thrust to the forefront an already-brewing discussion about climate change and the increasing frequency of extreme weather. New York City felt the full force of Sandy, which caused an estimated $19 billion in damage and an interruption to economic activity. In response to the devastating storm, C40 Chair and Mayor of New York City Michael R. Bloomberg announced a plan Tuesday – to be implemented immediately – to prepare New York City for future storms.
Last week Director of the Nature Conservancy’s Securing Water Program Adam Freed authored a post in UBM’s Future Cities publication, on the future of cities’ access to water resources in the face of climate change, increased urbanization, and sea level rise.
“There is no contradiction between being resource efficient and fostering economic growth and jobs,” Pencharz writes of his city’s growing low carbon and environmental goods and services sector.
I’m thrilled to take on the role of C40 North America Regional Director. Having worked for two mayors in San Francisco, one of C40’s Innovator Cities, and on distributed clean energy systems internationally for a number of years before that, I’m a firm believer in driving global sustainability through local action.
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