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C40 cities gather in London to take action on transport to tackle climate change

December 3, 2007

Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London and chair of the C40, today (Monday 3 December) welcomed to London 120 senior representatives from 33 world cities for a workshop to share knowledge on the most effective city transport and congestion schemes to tackle climate change.

The three-day event hosted jointly by London and Stockholm is the first of three workshops that followed from the C40 summit held in New York last May. The aim is to share knowledge on the best of city initiatives across the member cities. It is aimed at senior transport directors and city officials who will listen to a range of experiences with a view to adopting them for their own city. Representatives attending the workshop include Senator Katrin Lompscher, Berlin's representative on the steering committee, and delegates from Beijing.

The workshop will include a presentation by the Clinton Climate Initiative to detail procurement opportunities in relation to transport, such as LED traffic lights, and hydrogen, hybrid and bioethanol buses. The workshop will develop the C40's work to ensure that the procurement clout of the C40 cities can stimulate markets for low carbon products and services to help accelerate emission reductions. The Clinton Climate Initiative has joined with the C40 on a purchasing consortium to negotiate initial discounted pricing agreements with 25 manufacturers of energy efficient products. As a result, participating cities will have access to hundreds of individual products that reduce energy consumption in buildings, decrease fuel consumption and pollution by vehicles and capture and convert landfill methane into electricity. These and additional products will be offered to interested municipal governments at discounted prices.

Ken Livingstone said: 'Cities are responsible for over three quarters of greenhouse gas emissions, so the battle to prevent climate change will be won or lost in cities. This C40 workshop is the first of its kind and brings together over 100 senior representatives from 33 cities to share the best of each other's work to reduce carbon emissions. By working together in ways such as this, cities are putting themselves at the forefront of the fight to prevent catastrophic climate change.'

Ulla Hamilton, vice Mayor of Stockholm said: 'A development of technology in the areas of transportation and clean vehicles is of crucial importance to meet the challenges of combating climate change. This workshop is an excellent opportunity for representatives of the larges cities of the world to receive information of the development in the area of sustainable transportation as well as to share best practices, inspire and become inspired.' 

As agreed in New York, this workshop will be followed by a C40 Workshop on Airports and Climate Change in Los Angeles from 6-9 April 2008 and the C40 World Ports Climate Conference in Rotterdam from 9-11 July 2008. These meetings precede the next C40 Large Cities leadership summit, which will be held in Seoul in May 2009.

The C40 was set up by the Mayor of London with the to accelerate cities' programmes to combat climate change. The C40 cities have pledged to work together, to share best practice and to take action in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In order to achieve this, the C40 entered into a partnership arrangement with the Clinton Climate Initiative to develop programmes that would help cities fulfil their objectives.

Ends

Notes to editors

1. Earlier this year, the Mayor of London joined with President Clinton and mayors from cities across the world to announce the creation of a global Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Programme - to cut carbon emissions by making existing commercial buildings more energy efficient. This month, the Mayor confirmed that eight companies from the UK and abroad have been shortlisted, as part of the tender process to make the Greater London Authority Group's buildings more energy efficient.
2. The C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group is comprised of the following cities: Addis Ababa, Athens, Bangkok, Beijing, Berlin, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Caracas, Chicago, Delhi, Dhaka, Hanoi, hong kong, Houston, Istanbul, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Karachi, Lagos, Lima, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Moscow, Mumbai, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Toronto, Tokyo, and Warsaw.
3. 33 cities (including affiliates) will be represented at the workshop including Addis Ababa, Athens, Bangkok, Beijing, Berlin, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Delhi, Dhaka, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Karachi, Lagos, Lima, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Mumbai, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Rotterdam, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Warsaw.