Megacities key to reaching global climate goals

PARIS: The world’s big cities must collectively cut their carbon footprint nearly in half within a decade if global climate goals are to be met, according to an analysis unveiled yesterday.

Mayors from 84 megacities gathering in Mexico City this week are mulling long-term commitments for slashing carbon pollution that are detailed in the report, said organisers of the C40 urban summit.

Urgent, make- or-break action is needed, they warned.

“The next four years will determine whether or not the world’s megacities can deliver their part of the ambition of the Paris Agreement,” said Mark Watts, executive director of C40, a global network of large cities.

Without aggressive measures by cities, the 196-nation climate pact – inked in the French capital last December – “cannot be realistically delivered,” he told journalists ahead of the three- day summit.

The Paris deal, now in force, calls for capping global warming at two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, and at 1.5 C ( 2.7 F) if possible.

National carbon-cutting pledges annexed to the agreement would still allow the global average temperature to rise by 3.0 C ( 5.6 F) – a sure- fire recipe for climate catastrophe, say scientists.

With only 1.0 C (1.8 F) of warming so far, the world has seen a deadly upsurge of extreme weather, including droughts, superstorms, heat waves and coastal flooding boosted by rising seas.

Countries are not scheduled to review their pledges for several years.

The 90 C40 cities, including four joining this week, account for a quarter of the global economy, and are home to more than 650 million people.

The 100-page report, entitled ‘ Deadline 2020’, outlines four urban roadmaps to a low- carbon future, tailored to different levels of wealth and CO2 emissions.

Cities with high per capita levels of both – such as Toronto, New York and Melbourne – will be expected to immediately and sharply cut carbon pollution. — AFP