The commemorative booklet was handed to Johannesburg Member of the Mayoral Committee for Environment and Infrastructure Services, councillor Matshidiso Mfikoe, by C40 Cities Africa regional director, Hastings Chikoko on the last day of a four-day workshop held at the Parktonian Hotel in Braamfontein.
The recognition was bestowed by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, an international network of megacities founded in 2005 to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The workshop was aimed at sharing lessons and exchanging knowledge on critical environmental issues, as well as to empower participants with a standardised accounting or reporting methodology of greenhouse gas emissions. It attracted delegates from eight African C40 member cities, including Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Lagos, Cape Town, eThekwini and Tshwane.
On behalf of the City, Mfikoe said Johannesburg had made a number of commitments to the Global Protocol for Communities towards the end of 2013. “Our first inventory was completed just in time for the C40 Mayoral Summit of Climate Change that took place here in Johannesburg in February 2014,” she said.
Mfikoe also stated that the City’s commitment to dealing with climate change was receiving increasing global recognition.
“Recently, Johannesburg was, together with nine other cities – five of which are C40 members – featured in the In Focus Reports based on the city’s ‘highest quality’ CDP submissions. The In Focus Reports are a remarkable demonstration of the strides taken by cities such as Johannesburg in their quest to achieve sustainability and resilience,” she said.
Executive director for Environment and Infrastructure Services, Tiaan Ehlers, said the City will create a better understanding of the value of measurement and reporting, identifying and developing quality data sets, and using the reported information for better climate action planning.
He said, “Addressing climate change was a key consideration for the City and was in line with the Growth and Development 2040 (GDS 2040) strategy, which seeks to attain a low-carbon economy.”
Chikoko said cities in Africa recognised that proper emission measurement and reporting helped in understanding the impact of climate actions they were taking in various sectors. “Accessibility of information on emissions also helps African cities to benchmark with other reporting cities worldwide. C40 cities have, therefore, pledged to accelerate the exchange of experiences and best practices on greenhouse gas emissions measurement and reporting,” he said.
