Today, C40 Chair and Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes announced his city’s full compliance with the Compact of Mayors, making it the first city in the world to reach the Compact compliance milestone.
The announcement comes at an exciting time in this global effort: earlier this week, US President Barack Obama announced that 15 new US cities – including C40 cities Austin, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Seattle – joined the Compact of Mayors. President Obama also issued a challenge to cities and set a goal of having 100 U.S. cities in the Compact in advance of COP21 at the end of November.
“I am proud that Rio de Janeiro is the first global city to become fully compliant with the Compact of Mayors, and I call on all cities to join this critical initiative on the Road to Paris and beyond,” said Mayor Paes. “By complying with the Compact, we are advancing our work to make Rio a place with a better quality of life for its citizens and a healthier environment for its visitors. Cities are climate leaders, they are in the best position to effect real change. The actions we take at a local level will have a global impact and, by improving our city, we will be helping create a better world for today’s urban citizens and generations to come.”
By complying with the Compact of Mayors, Mayor Paes reinforces his commitment to climate action by taking stock of greenhouse emissions and the current effects of climate change in Rio, creating an action plan including clear and ambitious reduction targets, and implementing a common system of measuring those emissions and monitoring climate risks.
"Mayor Paes and Rio de Janeiro deserve great credit for acting quickly and decisively to meet all the requirements for compliance in the Compact of Mayors,” said C40 Board President and Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change Michael R. Bloomberg. “The Compact requirements bring more transparency and accountability to city efforts to confront climate change, and Rio's actions should encourage cities to accelerate their progress in the run-up to the UN climate change conference in December.”
To read the full press release, click here.
For more on Rio news, click here.