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Polluted cities taking initiative to tackle global warming
May 17, 2007 The Straits Times
NEW YORK - MAYORS from more than 40 of the world's most polluted cities have declared at a climate summit here that cities must take the lead in the campaign to reverse global warming.

City leaders cannot wait for their countries to enact national policies, they said.

'As cities produce three-fourths of the carbon emissions, we must act,' London Mayor Ken Livingstone told delegates, describing climate change as 'the single biggest threat to the future of humanity'.

'Whatever the discussions within our governments, as cities we are not waiting,' he told leaders from 46 of the world's most polluted cities, from Cairo to Shanghai and Los Angeles to Singapore.

The C40 Large Cities Climate Summit, which started late on Monday and is set to run through today, is dedicated to reducing carbon emissions and developing more energy-efficient infrastructure.

One of the first agreements to come out of the meeting on Tuesday: A pledge by 514 US mayors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Kyoto Protocol, a move which signals their objections to the environmental policies of US President George W. Bush.

The US mayors signed an accord to slash pollutants to below 1990 levels by 2012.

The accord is the only climate protection agreement of its kind among US elected officials. Mr Bush has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol.

Tokyo's outspoken nationalist leader yesterday lashed out at the US for not ratifying the Kyoto treaty and blamed the country for worsening the world's environment.

' It is ridiculous that the United States did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol,' Governor Shintaro Ishihara told Japanese journalists in footage broadcast here.

Apart from calling for US ratification of the landmark treaty on cutting emissions, Mr Ishihara is also expected to explain the tough regulations on diesel vehicles that he implemented in Tokyo.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg also criticised governmental inaction on climate change, telling delegates: 'We need no new technology, we need no new invention, all that is required is political will.'

Former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern last year warned that the fallout of climate change could be on the scale of the two world wars and the Great Depression of the 1930s unless urgent action was taken.

London was the venue for the first such summit of mayors in 2005, bringing together environmental officials from around 20 cities for what was mostly an opportunity to exchange ideas and set up the large cities network.

This year's summit brings together mayors and senior officials from 46 cities committed to tackling climate change and reducing their carbon footprint on the planet's atmosphere.

For the first time, it also includes top business leaders and corporations from around the world, including General Electric, Deutsche Bank, Shell and Siemens, who are here to offer technological expertise and financial backing for green projects.

Other topics up for discussion include beating congestion, making water systems more efficient, adopting renewable energy sources, increasing recycling levels, reducing city waste and improving mass transit systems.

Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore planned to ask other cities to follow Sydney by implementing an 'Earth Hour', during which businesses and homes turn off their lights for one hour to reduce energy consumption.

The city's first 'Earth Hour', on March 31, was hailed as a success. It cut normal energy use by 10 per cent.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE