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By APD writer Adtiya Nugraha
Mayors from around the world attending the C40 World Mayors Summit here pledged to work together with young activists aimed at quicken implementation of policies to tackle global warming issue, among other by immediate cut on carbon emission.
Referring to big demonstrations recently carried out by young activists in several European cities, the mayors said that increasingly visible stand of the youth movement s to address global warming need to be responded appropriately.
"As mayors, it is our duty, responsibility and privilege to support them in creating the future they want," the C40 chair, who is Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, said on Friday.
The mayors unveiled a series of pledges and measures to cut planet-warming emissions, from reducing meat consumption to tackling air pollution with cheap bus fares and vehicle bans.
They promised to create a Global Youth Initiative to help deliver a Global Green New Deal.
Mayors attending the summit came from at least 90 cities, representing over 700 million of people.
The C40 Cities connects 94 of the world's major cities to take bold climate action towards a healthier and more sustainable future.
Cities are vital to limit global warming as they account for about three-quarters of carbon emissions and consume more than two-thirds of global energy, according to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in the summit.
"Cities are where the climate battle will largely be won or lost," he told the summit.
Wider use of existing clean technologies - such as electric buses - could deliver more than half the carbon cuts needed to keep global temperature rise to below two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times, the UN said.
In 2015 Paris Agreement world leaders agreed to hold temperate hikes to well-below that threshold.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
