World Mayors Committed to Action on Climate Change

21^st February, 2007

The World Mayors Council on Climate Change, an international alliance of committed local government leaders, has unanimously adopted the Kyoto Climate Action Declaration, making strong commitments to work together reduce local greenhouse gas emissions.

Gathered on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol, members of the World Mayors Council on Climate Change have committed to:

• Call on all nations to move urgently to negotiate targets for the second commitment period (post 2012) of a 30% reduction by 2020 and 80% by 2050.
• Urge our national governments to cut our reliance on fossil fuels by setting favorable frameworks for renewable energy, energy efficiency, conservation technologies and integrated multi-modal transportation systems.
• Politically promote climate protection policies at the local, national and international level.
• Substantially reduce current levels of greenhouse gas emissions and adopt more aggressive reduction targets in the future, both in our local government operations and in our communities.
• Encourage other local governments to adopt targets and implement policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Cities, now home to more than half of the world’s population, are implementing policies, programs and projects that integrate social, economic, environmental and cultural sustainability. In fact, municipal leaders have the extraordinary ability to change the current trend of climate change, through local policies and actions that will meet or exceed targets set by sub-national and national governments.

For example, there are many local governments that own and operate power plants and make decisions on energy sources. They also make decisions on transportation and transit systems. All of these responsibilities influence energy use, industrial development, air quality and climate change action, and public procurement.