Following tours of the city’s green initiative sites the day before, mayors from around the world got down to the business of the summit at the Sandton Convention Centre on 5 February.
Executive Mayor Parks Tau opened the morning session by highlighting some of the City’s green initiatives and the challenges faced in reducing carbon
emissions.
According to Tau, 87 percent of Joburg’s electricity is generated through coal, and there was a need to transition to alternative fuels.
He added that the growing demand for electricity required the city to “put more people on the grid” and generate more electricity.
However, he said the city had managed to reduce the consumption of electricity per capita by 20 percent.
He added that the green transport initiative had also proven successful as the Rea Vaya buses had contributed to 380 000 ton reduction of carbon emissions.
Michael Bloomberg, New York’s former mayor, said the C40 Summit was a “key player in the fight against climate change”.
The spotlight was on the release of the report on Climate Action in Megacities, which outlined the current state of climate change and the
progress made by major cities.
Research has shown that city-reported climate action has nearly doubled since 2011.
According to the report, 98 percent of C40 cities consider climate change to be a risk to their cities.
Commenting on the findings of the report, president and CEO of World Resources Institute, Andrew Steer said: “Things are different now, if cities do not grip the issues of climate change, we will fail.”
