‘Cities aren’t going to wait’: Mayors drive action on climate change
With cities home to over half the world’s population and producing more than 80 per cent of global economic output, mayors are also driving climate action by adopting renewable energy and cleaner methods of transport.
Whether grappling with rising sea levels, drought or floods, mayors of cities worldwide are increasingly on the frontline of efforts to help communities prepare better for the impacts of climate change as it hikes the risk of disasters.
With cities home to over half the world’s population and producing more than 80 per cent of global economic output, mayors are also driving climate action by adopting renewable energy and cleaner methods of transport.
Jenny Durkan, mayor of the US city of Seattle, said US President Donald Trump’s decision to walk away from the Paris Agreement, a global pact to curb climate change, and his support for fossil fuels have prompted city leaders to step up.
“Mayors have been galvanised in America, and now will be taking more unified steps than perhaps they would have been when they had to rely on federal partners,” Durkan, a former US attorney, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone.
“Our federal government unfortunately has completely backed away from all their commitments (on climate change) … so the leadership on this front has to come from state and local government,” she added.
Seattle, a port city with low-lying areas, already faces worsening flood risk due to higher seas and more frequent torrential rains, exacerbated by global warming, Durkan said.
“Climate change is huge for us. We’ve had extreme weather conditions shifting,” she said. “Cities are not going to wait.”
