Today, 50% of the world’s population lives in urban areas. These cities account for 75% of global energy consumption and 80% of greenhouse gas emissions. In just 20 years, two-thirds of the world’s population is projected to live in cities.
In response to the challenge of global warming and climate change, representatives of 18 of the world’s leading metropolises met in 2005 to strategize on how they could take responsibility for their municipality’s contribution to these pressing issues. In 2006, the leading world cities formed an alliance with the Clinton Climate Initiative, called themselves the C40 climate leadership group, and vowed to both reduce carbon emissions and increase energy efficiency in their cities throughout the world.
Seven of the 40 cities are in Latin America (Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Lima, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo), but according to the C40 website only two of those have published Climate Change Action Plans (Bogotá and Mexico City).
The delegates of all the C40 cities (as well as 17 affiliate cities) met for the third time about a month ago in Seoul, Korea at the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit. The theme of this year’s four-day event was “Cities’ Achievements and Challenges in the Fight against Climate Change.” City mayors, policy makers, and experts and scholars in the climate, energy, and transportation related fields addressed the wider use of green energy, energy efficiency measures, sustainable transport, and sustainable city development (including sustainable adaptation measures).
These themes encompass some of the more major aspects of urbanism, politics, and economics and it is no small task to break the issues into manageable, actionable pieces.
Some cities are further along acting on their promises than others.
Toronto, for example, has built a partnership with Zerofootprint, a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting companies, governments and individuals reduce their carbon footprint. Zerofootprint Toronto is part environmental footprint calculator and part online social network and it is “designed to graphically illustrates to users the impact every aspect of their daily lives has on the environment while allowing them to network with like-minded friends, neighbors and co-workers to create a virtual eco-community.”
In Buenos Aires, a number of initiatives are underway, namely, to increase energy efficiency in some public buildings, perform a city-wide air quality study, and begin to work towards cleaner and more efficient public transit. But the city could be doing much more to make good on its pledge.
The disparity between the actions of different C40 cities draws attention to the different challenges that cities in less developed countries face. The declaration as a result of the Seoul Summit explains, “cities in developed countries need to assist the efforts of cities in developing countries in taking actions as they are more vulnerable to climate change and have lower capacity to cope with environmental hazards.”
Indeed. It is hard to blame Buenos Aires for lagging behind in its promise to combat greenhouse gas emissions – this city has other very pressing needs. Certainly learning about initiatives in other leading cities and access to global experts in the related fields will expose Buenos Aires’ delegates to the opportunities for positive, sustainable, urban development. Whether these opportunities are transformed into more action and faster action remains to be seen.
Personally, I have always been skeptical of these global pacts. It is easy enough for Buenos Aires to sign on to being a member of the C40 climate leadership group. It’s another thing for the city to take significant action towards its pledge to reduce carbon emissions.
This is the problem with intergovernmental institutions carrying the sustainable development torch. There is no accountability involved. The United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals are a stark example. Goal number one? Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by halving the global population of those living on less than one dollar per day by 2015. Sounds good.
But is this achievable in the next six years? The percent of Africa’s population living in poverty is about 50% and hasn’t changed in 30 years. Has not the main driver behind the UN’s Millennium Development Goals’ progress on goal one been the booming industrial capitalism of East Asia, where poverty has fallen 60% in the same 30 year period?
I am skeptical that climate change will be solved by a global compact such as C40. I do, however, believe that C40 has an important role to play in strategizing solutions towards the pressing need for sustainable development. Eduardo Galeano, the Uruguayan re-writer of history and one of my favourite authors says it best: “What then is the purpose of utopia? It is to cause us to advance.”