Cities take up the cudgels

The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, of which Joburg is a member, met during COP 17 to discuss experiences and solutions to climate change.
ON the sidelines of the 17th Conference of the Parties, COP 17, the City of Johannesburg met other megacities of the world to discuss climate change, and what they could do about it.

Executive mayor Parks Tau speaking at the C40 (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)Executive mayor Parks Tau speaking at the C40 meeting (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)Joburg was represented by Executive Mayor Parks Tau. The other cities also belong to the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40), while another partner at the gathering was the global engineering consultancy, Arup. They met on 6 December at the Local Government Pavilion in Durban.

The international COP 17 talks, which began on 28 November in the coastal city, end today.

C40 is a network of large and engaged cities from around the world committed to implementing meaningful and sustainable climate-related actions locally that will help address climate change globally.

Members of the network include Johannesburg, Berlin, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Los Angeles, London, New York City, Sao Paulo, Seoul and Tokyo. Together they represent 297 million people, 18 percent of global gross domestic product and 10 percent of global carbon emissions.

A landmark report, Climate Action in Megacities, co-developed by C40 and Arup, was presented at the meeting. The report measures the potential of cities to mitigate climate change, and marks the first comprehensive analysis of actions under way in the world’s cities to address climate change.

Energy
There are 4 734 climate change actions up and running already, and another 1 465 under consideration, covering 11 sectors, namely: transport; energy supply; waste; water; planning and urban land use; climate change adaptation; energy demand in the building sector; information and communication technology; food and urban agriculture; outdoor lighting; and finance and economy.

Representatives from cities summarised the report and shared experiences and solutions. They comprised a panel of mayors and environmental experts, such as Ayfer Baykal, the head of technical and environmental affairs in Copenhagen, Denmark; Kentji Suzuki, the director of international environment co-operation, urban and global environment division in Tokyo, Japan; and Martha Delgado Peralta, the secretary for environment in Mexico City.

Commenting on the report and what Joburg is doing, Tau said: “Cities are stewards of many of our economic, environmental and social assets and have the potential to provide a framework for a low carbon economy.”

As South Africa’s most populated city, climate change was high on Joburg’s agenda. The meeting was an opportunity to advance the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, he said.

The City was keen to implement the Bali Action Plan, agreed at COP 13 in 2007 and the Cancun Agreements, adopted at COP 16 in December 2010.

Retrofitting
There are several initiatives that the City has undertaken. These include retrofitting council-owned buildings; installing solar water heating systems in thousands of low income households; installing energy efficient street lights; implementing greening initiatives; and setting up waste minimisation programmes.

Recently, the city was named the lowest greenhouse gas emitter in South Africa in a survey commissioned by the global electronics company, Siemens. The survey measured 15 African cities.

Simon Reddy, the director of C40, said: “C40 cities around the world are on the forefront of climate change action. The Arup report highlights actions taken and the potential for cities to continue to lead the way in combating climate change.”

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement of the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change. Its major feature is that it sets binding targets for industrialised countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

It was adopted on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. However, it is under threat and has been high on the agenda during COP 17.