Cities claim their “core role” to mitigate climate change

Cities play a “core role” in mitigating the impacts of climate change, so the struggle for sustainability cannot be made a confrontation of ideologies, but must be “a political pact so that cities are the scene of a just transition”.

This was explained on Tuesday at COP25 in Madrid by a group of mayors from Spain and Latin America on the second day of this Climate Summit, which has as its central theme the work of subnational entities, cities and regions, as dynamic actors of decarbonization.

In this sense, cities are responsible for 70% of greenhouse gas emissions that are transferred into the atmosphere and, according to Data from the United Nations, more than 80% of the population in Latin America is concentrated in cities, while the percentage is only slightly lower in Spain.

In the dialogue, the sustainability proposals of the cities of Medellín (Colombia), Montevideo, Madrid and Seville were presented, which “are facing the challenges of climate change with responsibility, creativity and discipline,” explained the president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Alberto Moreno.

In this sense, cities represent a “fundamental” role in the economy, continued the Spanish Secretary of State for Economy and Business Support, Ana de la Cueva Fernández, while being “key” dynamic agents in the mitigation of the impact of climate change.

THE POPULATION, AT THE CENTER OF MEDELLÍN’S CLIMATE POLICY

The mayor of Medellín, Federico Gutiérrez, a leading city in innovation and actions against climate change, bases its actions on “mitigation and adaptation through people” and manages to “address environmental issues while closing social gaps while reducing emissions and generating quality of life”

“To achieve a global impact you have to act from the local,” said Gutiérrez, for which it is necessary not only a technological change, but also a cultural change, since “one can have many differences – political, religious – but there is something that we all have in common: the air we breathe.”

For his part, the mayor of Seville, Juan Espadas, recalled that “the opportunity provided by local governments is to commit their people to a collective challenge such as climate change”, so, if the localities lead a process of transformation, it will be facing a “paradigm shift of vital importance”.

It is “essential” that cities are the scene of change, so Seville has managed to unify all the energy consumed by the city council, which is supplied with 100% renewable energy, “as reported by Espadas.

As a representative of women’s leadership in urban development, the mayor of Municipality D of Montevideo, Sandra Nedov, has highlighted as a “fundamental” tool the planning and collaboration between agencies, while she has defended that “the strength has to remain in the territory so that the changes stay when the politicians leave”.

LEADERSHIP OF CITIES AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

Finally, the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, who thanked the Central Government for organizing the summit, claimed the “moral leadership” that cities have in the fight against climate change.

In reference to the motto of the summit “Time to act”, he pointed out that “we must act even with those measures that generate rejection in the citizenship”, so he has highlighted the ‘Madrid 360’ plan that his administration has developed.

He has also supported institutional continuity and has pointed out that “the discrepancy in certain measures does not mean denialism”, in reference to his intention not to continue with the “Madrid Central” plan, implemented by the previous legislature and which restricted access to the most polluting vehicles to the center of Madrid.

Cities, according to IDB officials, are “especially vulnerable” to the impact of the effects of climate change, so it is necessary to have “political agreements of continuity” and adapt the proposals to each territory to face each problem as an opportunity.

Source: The Vanguard