‘We need the full backing of central governments’: 350 cities and firms call for climate action support
Smart City Sustainability Charter calls on world leaders to acknowledge the role cities can play in tackling climate change
Over 350 cities and organisations from around the world have backed a sustainability charter committing signatories to a raft of urban improvement efforts, encompassing issues such as air quality, the circular economy, climate resilience, clean transport and green elecriticy.
Launched late last month, the Smart City Sustainability Charter urges world leaders to be guided by ten green principles during climate negotiations at the crucial COP26 summit in Glasgow in November, and the open letter has now attracted hundreds of backers worldwide.
Cities to have joined the Charter so far include Amsterdam, Edmonton, Johannesburg, Lisbon, Philadelphia, Quebec, São Paulo, and Stuttgart, while the campaign is also being supported by organisations, such as, the Resilient Cities Network, WeGO (the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organisation), and Leading Cities. In the UK, Coventry and Bristol city councils have also signed the Charter, in addition to Nottingham Trent University.
The principles, which were put forward by the SmartCitiesWorld’s city and industry expert advisory board, seek to underscore the need for support from national governments to help cities achieve net zero targets. They include principles aimed at boosting circular economy efforts in cities, encouraging the adoption of resilience strategies that better protect people from the effects of climate change, expanding green spaces, boosting clean air and renewable energy supply, and prioritising active or public transport over private road vehicles.
“Ahead of the Cop26 meeting in Glasgow next month it is vital to highlight the critical role cities will play in helping to solve the climate crisis and to mitigate its effects in the most densely populated areas,” said Paul Wilson, chair of the SmartCitiesWorld advisory board. “Time and again, we have seen governments make pledges on behalf of states, yet it falls to cities to deliver on these pledges. Cities account for 55 per cent of the world’s population today, growing to 68 per cent in by 2050. The principles we have proposed today alongside our city partners will help us all in the move towards net zero carbon emissions, while also immeasurably improving lives around the world.”
According to SmartCitiesWorld, a content platform aimed at resolving urban challenges, cities consume 78 per cent of the world’s energy and produce over 60 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, despite only covering three per cent of the earth’s surface. As such, it argues cities can play a vital role in climate action.
SmartCitiesWorld advisory board member and CEO of Leading Cities, Michael Lake, said the principles in the open letter and Charter could “provide the resilient and equitable foundation that our urban centres must build on to achieve urgent climate action goals”.
“Cities will need the full backing of central governments to complete the urgent objectives the world is depending on,” he said.
It follows the announcement in July from over 30 local leaders in the UK that they had signed a statement urging the government to give local authorities additional powers to implement measures to help achieve their net zero targets, after 38 regional and city councils across the UK, including London, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow pledged to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2030, and neutralise their other emissions by 2045.
