When local action meets global ambition
A newsletter on C40's 20th anniversary
Our Substack has been quiet for a while, overwhelmed by the constant news coming from Canada’s noisy neighbour to our south. Disappearances. Illegal government actions. War. More war. The constant barrage of daily events makes even the US administration's illegal imposition of tariffs, in breach of a trade agreement the current president negotiated and signed, seem a very long time ago indeed.
In this context, talking about long-run challenges - like climate change - is a challenge in itself. How do we focus on enduring climate action in a time of instant news, when every day is a new crisis?
It is possible (despite my own failure recently to produce these newsletters bi-weekly as intended). This past week for example, mayors from the world’s leading cities gathered in Paris with its Mayor Anne Hidalgo to celebrate 10 years of the Paris Accord - the groundbreaking international climate agreement signed in 2015. Everyone reading this knows that the current US administration has announced that the USA will withdraw from the Paris Agreement. But this doesn't have to mean the end of global climate action - in fact far from it. C40 and its member cities show the way. And they have been showing the way for the past 20 years.
C40 is a coalition of those major world cities who choose to take climate action - a coalition of the willing. It builds on collaboration and leadership. It does not require unanimity - only a commitment to science-based action consistent with any city’s fair share of the change needed to hold overall average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. Most C40 cities are lowering emissions much faster than their national governments. This model of collaborative international diplomacy creates opportunities for leadership and innovation, because it allows space for new ideas - like ultra low emissions zones to make cleaner air, building codes to remove gas and create healthier living and working environments, or divesting pensions from fossil fuels - to be pursued by a small interested group at the start, typically leading to the idea spreading widely once the pioneers have demonstrated its practical (and sometimes political) feasibility.
I was honoured to be C40’s second Chair, from 2008-2010 - honoured both personally for the confidence my peers showed in electing me, and as a Canadian for Canada to lead an important global organisation. Together, we made C40 an effective force on the international stage, notably at COP15 in Copenhagen when mayors of the world’s biggest cities publicly demonstrated the climate action they were taking in events at City Hall Square, while the global climate talks collapsed in finger pointing and acrimony at a remote convention centre near the airport.
It would have been hard to predict then that this model of collaborative multilateralism would thrive for 20 years, globally. Part of the reason for C40’s longevity is that even when national governments have strained relations with other countries, C40 cities in those countries still collaborate across international boundaries. Is this a possible blueprint for international climate diplomacy? C40’s Mark Watts and Laurence Tubiana, one of the architects of the Paris Agreement, certainly think so.
So amid or rather in spite of everything else that is going on at the moment, I would like to pause for a moment and say happy anniversary C40! There is hope, you know.
David Miller
What we’re reading and watching
The recent Op-Ed by Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan and Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo: Around the world, well-funded, organised climate deniers are spreading lies about the crisis. We call on governments and tech companies to step up.
This Advanced Access Article from the Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy’s forthcoming issue: Protecting Capital Value, Producing Risk: Thames Water, Infrastructural Valuation, and the Paradox of Financial De-risking (Hint: Don't privatise water)
C40’s new video ‘When local action meets global ambition’ - Behind every climate solution is a community and a city that dared to lead.