Cities 1.5
Cities 1.5
Inside the C40 World Mayors Summit: Cities throw down the gauntlet
In this first instalment of our two-part special from the C40 World Mayors Summit, Cities 1.5 takes you inside the flagship gathering of the world’s most ambitious urban climate leaders. We hear directly from mayors as they unveil this year’s Offer of Action – a unified commitment that raises the stakes for urban climate leadership and pointedly challenges national governments to match their ambition with action of their own, all on the eve of COP30. We also speak with leading climate experts and C40 partners to explore why cities remain the most effective engines for rapid, equitable decarbonization, and what they must do next to keep the goal of limiting global heating to 1.5°C alive. And crucially, funders share why they’ve chosen to invest in C40’s global network, highlighting the proven impact of coordinated city action and the urgency of scaling it.
Photo credit: ©Bernardo Jardim Photography
Featured:
Sir Sadiq Khan, C40 Co-Chair and Mayor of London
Nick Reece, Lord Mayor of Melbourne
Giuseppe “Beppe” Sala, Mayor of Milan
Yousef Al-Shawarbeh, Mayor of Amman
Keith Wilson, Mayor of Portland
Dr. Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, Executive Mayor of Ekurhuleni
Eduardo Pimentel, Mayor of Curitiba
Caterina Sarfatti, Managing Director of Inclusion and Global Leadership at C40
Haris Doukas, Mayor of Athens
Eirik Lae Solberg, Governing Mayor of Oslo
Søren Staugaard Nielsen, Managing Director of the Ramboll Foundation
Jo Jewell, Director of Social Responsibility Partnerships at Novo Nordisk
Hon. Catherine McKenna, Chair of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments of Non-State Entities
Christiana Figueres, Founding Partner of Global Optimism and Co-presenter of Outrage + Optimism
Links:
C40 World Mayors Summit: Cities Delivering Global Leadership for Climate Action - Bloomberg Philanthropies, YouTube
From negotiation to delivery:The Yearly Offer of Action
Green and Thriving Neighbourhoods Programme
Integrity Matters: Winning the Future report
Outrage + Optimism - Inside COP podcast
If you want to learn more about the Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy, please visit our website: https://jccpe.utpjournals.press/
Cities 1.5 is produced by the University of Toronto Press and the C40 Centre, and is supported by C40 Cities. You can sign up to the Centre newsletter here. https://thecentre.substack.com/
Cities 1.5 is hosted by David Miller. It's written and produced by Peggy Whitfield and Jess Schmidt: https://jessdoespodcasting.com/
Our executive producer is Chiara Morfeo.
Edited by Morgane Chambrin: https://www.morganechambrin.com/
Cities 1.5 music is by Lorna Gilfedder: https://origamipodcastservices.com/
Sir Sadiq Khan 00:00
[rousing music] The challenge we face today is stark. It’s no longer simply a case of climate doers versus climate deniers. Now it’s an existential fight between the climate wreckers and us, the climate defenders. And let’s be clear, foremost among the wreckers is the President of the United States of America, someone who—[applause] someone who stood up at the United Nations only a matter of weeks ago and called the climate crisis a scam. The climate wreckers want to chain us to the fossil fuels of the past, vandalizing our planet and vandalizing our homes with boiling temperatures, more pollution and more climate induced disasters. But the likes of the C40, the climate defenders, offer us an alternative. They offer our people freedom, dignity, and hope. The freedom of lower bills and better health. The dignity of a secure and well-paid green job. The hope of a fairer, safer, cleaner, brighter, and more prosperous tomorrow. Let me end, friends, by saying this, the fight which is between those wrecking our planet and those defending it is the defining battle of our time. It demands urgency, courage, and grit. Not delay or excuses. But imagine looking back in years to come and knowing we didn’t flinch. That we chose action over apathy. That when history asked, “Who stood up?” Our cities answered. [music ends]
David 02:05
[fast rhythmic music] That was C40 co-chair and mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan. His strong stirring words echoed not only through Rio de Janeiro, but across the world from the triennial C40 World Mayors Summit. It feels like only yesterday we were exploring how Brazil shaped the life and work of Herman Daly, the father of ecological economics, in our summer miniseries. So, it’s fitting that we return to Rio, a city that knows heat, floods, resistance, and ambition, to experience the largest gathering of mayors from the world’s leading cities on the ground. [music ends]
[rousing music] This World Mayors Summit comes at a critical moment, 20 years after the creation of C40, a decade since the Paris Agreement, and on the eve of a pivotal COP in Belém. With over 70% of C40 cities outpacing their national governments on Paris targets, mayors are once again showing how local leadership drives global change. Cities are slashing emissions, safeguarding public health, protecting communities from climate shocks, and proving that a just transition away from fossil fuels is not only possible, but is already underway. [music ends]
[samba music] I’ve been to more than half a dozen World Mayors Summits now, and I can attest to how inspiring this convening is. Each World Mayors Summit is a moment to celebrate what’s been achieved, to look ahead to what must come next, and through connection and collaboration find ways to make it happen. This year’s summit in Rio also helped build essential momentum ahead of the COP and provided a global platform for launching new initiatives to protect both people and planet. In this episode, the first in a two-part special marking and reflecting on the World Mayors Summit, we’ll hear from mayors, funders, and leading climate experts on how cities are accelerating climate action and keeping hope alive in the fight to stop climate breakdown. But don’t just take it from me, you are about to hear directly from several mayors on why convenings like the summit are so crucial. First, here’s the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Nick Reece. [music ends]
Lord Mayor Nick Reece 04:47
I’m sure most of your listeners know the importance of cities globally. You know, about a decade ago over half of the world’s population was living in a city, that was a real milestone in human history and that growth is only continuing. So, not only are cities the global centers for, you know, economic activity and human life, they’re also the big emitters. It’s also the case that cities are the centers for innovation and new ideas and new development. So, cities have helped create some of the problems that our world is facing, but I’m also very confident that they’re the place where the solutions are going to come from as well. So, for me, coming along and being part of the C40 summit was a must do upon becoming mayor, because I want to find out what is happening in other cities around the world, what works, what’s not working, also understanding the politics of some of these debates as well. You need to get the policy right and you’ve got to get the politics right as well, and so I find C40 is a place where I can do both. A number of years ago I attended a C40 summit in Copenhagen, and that was a real watershed for me in terms of my thinking around climate action. I was blown away by what I was seeing other cities doing, whether it was, you know, learning about Paris’s then mission to try and make the Seine River swimmable, what Copenhagen was doing around converting their transport system to more active transport, rolling out the protected cycling lanes, et cetera, or what cities like New York were doing around emissions in buildings and bringing in new frameworks for, you know, getting emissions from the built environment down. So I, as I said, really saw that—my attendance at that summer as a turning point for me in terms of my policy thinking in this area, and so, yeah, I made a real point of coming along this year.
Mayor Giuseppe Sala 06:55
My name is Giuseppe Sala but everyone calls me Beppe Sala, and I’m the mayor of Milan since 2016 and I’m C40’s vice chair for Europe. I’m very happy to be here representing both my city and C40. And it is fundamental because, you know, one of the first decision I took when I became mayor was to implement a low emission zone, because there are many, many private cars entering into the city any single day. Of course, they enter normally for business, to participate to the economic and social life in Milan, but we understood that most of those cars were very polluting cars. I went to London because my colleague had recently implemented his low emission zone in London, to have such an experience, to understand before all the risks. The first period was critical, how to respond to the criticisms or, I mean, to any questions from the citizens. It was fundamental, so we learned. Now, to be part of C40 and to work with all these international cities, it’s even more important because not only in Italy but in many countries or the world there are governments that are telling the citizens, “Yeah, but indeed the climate change is not so fundamental for us.” So again, to have the experience of all the cities coordinated by C40 is always more fundamental for me in my role for a city like Milan.
Mayor Yousef Al Shawarbeh 08:58
[speaking Arabic] [voice of translator] My name is Yousef Al Shawarbeh. I’m the mayor of Amman since 2017. A city like Amman, it is located in an impacted country and a country that does not impact other cities or other areas by climate change. Hence, every country and every city is impacted and influenced differently from other countries and other cities by climate change. Hence, there should be strategic solutions to deal with the impact of climate change on every city and on every country. Definitely such a summit, the conference which Amman is joining in collaboration with C40 Cities, it raises the level of coordination between all the cities and it helps to adopt common solutions and to change their pledges into commitments and action plans. Always when we meet, we are always targeting humans and the city, and that’s why we work together as a team.
Mayor Keith Wilson 11:01
My name is Keith Wilson. I’m the mayor of Portland, and we’re here in Rio for the Mayors C40 Summit and enjoying the ride so far. The convening is incredible. From the smallest to the largest I think cities are leading tactically on what they need in their neighborhoods to make the changes for their community members. I think we get more done here faster from a funding and direct action standpoint than we talk about from the nation states, which are usually five, 10, 20 years. We’re doing things in five, 10, and 20 months to create change.
Executive Mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza 11:38
I am Alderman Nkosindiphile Xhakaza. I’m the executive mayor for the City of Ekurhuleni. We’re an industrial city but we are faced with, you know, a lot of challenges. We also have to participate in this conversation and C40 really gives us that platform because it connects cities. It actually enables, you know, us to share amongst other mayors best practices, our own experiences. It’s a platform where we get some insights on the science and to prepare, really, for the future. We are proud of our efforts thus far. Part of our strategies, we are driving a six-key pillar program that talks about delivering services to our people and ensuring quality and sustainability. We’ve embedded some of the climate change, you know, strategies into the overall program. How do we deliver electricity? How do we deliver water? How do we ensure that, you know, the sanitation aspect has been looked at in terms of waste water programs? How do we ensure that our roads infrastructure takes into account some of the aspects like stormwater just in case there’s flooding? How do we, you know, ensure that we are responsive in terms of informal settlements for those who are poor, those who are vulnerable? Also look at financing. You know, the revenue, the sustainability, our finances were able to fund the city’s development. It is therefore important that in whatever that we do we forever have an, you know, insight in terms of what are the, you know, best practices, including, you know, some of the frameworks for funding and all that. And it is in this platform where these conversations are actually happening and then we’re able to go back, when we monitor the work we ensure that, you know, climate change strategies are actually embedded.
David 13:43
[samba music] As the World Mayors Summit is taking place in Brazil, it’s only fitting that we hear from city leadership from the host nation. Here’s Mayor Eduardo Pimentel of Curitiba. [music continues then ends]
Mayor Eduardo Pimentel 13:57
First of all, congratulations to C40 because it’s being a really good summit. A really good meeting of the mayors of the world. We have here more than 200 mayors from Brazil, and here it’s the opportunity to us to be together with the mayors from around the world like [inaudible 14:17], Paris, Austin, Phoenix, Quito, Bogotá, Buenos Aires. So, this is important so we can exchange ideas and we can exchange projects that we are doing in our cities. I always say that Curitiba has a lot of good ideas and projects to share, but we have to learn a lot with every city around the world. And when we get together, even Curitiba or London or Amman or Melbourne we can see that we have the same problems. We have the public transportation, we have our kids in school, we have the medical care to our people. We have to plant trees, we have to take care, so we can learn a lot with this. And when we sit with them, we can share our projects. I will come back to my city tomorrow with many ideas. And what is more important? It’s the relationship with another mayor. So, next year if I have some doubts or something, I can call for the mayor of Paris or Austin. So, I think it’s the most important, it is the relationship that we do with the mayors of the C40.
David 15:42
[samba music] But what makes the World Mayors Summit different from other global climate events? COPs, in my opinion, are rightly criticized for talking a lot but not doing that much. We’ve now reached a critical juncture. We’re currently on target to reach a dangerous 2.6° of global heating, well over the 1.5° target set out by the Paris Agreement. It’s time for action, not words. And this is where cities and mayors excel as a colleague from C40 explains. [music ends]
Caterina Sarfatti 16:22
My name is Caterina Sarfatti. I am one of C40’s managing directors. I oversee our global campaigns and advocacy work and our just transition initiatives. Normally, I’m based in Milan in Italy, but I am in Rio de Janeiro today
David 16:37
[samba music] As geopolitical fault lines deepen and national diplomacy stalls, it’s easy to feel despair about the climate crisis. But while nations argue over borders and budgets, the fight for a livable future is being won on a different stage entirely, our cities. In the age of rising temperatures and extreme weather events, climate action isn’t a political ideology. It’s imperative for survival. This is why city climate diplomacy is now more critical than ever. [music continues then ends]
Caterina Sarfatti 17:17
I would say cities not only participate in diplomacy, but I think are supplementing and actually showing real cooperation and global diplomacy in a moment where international multilateralism is very much under attack and is very much on the risk of failing. Here in Rio, one of the mayors asked, “Can you imagine if C40 didn’t exist in these 20 years? Can you imagine if C40 didn’t exist today, what the state of international cooperation and climate would be in this moment?” And I thought that was a very inspiring question because in the moment of real difficulty of international cooperation, which is something that climate desperately needs, cities are showing that climate diplomacy is possible, that international cooperation on action is possible. And they’re doing it among them, but they’re also doing it with others, participating in the climate international spaces like the COPs, like the international negotiations, the G20, the IEA, the International Energy Agency. They’re in the international spaces showing what the needs of their citizens are, why their voice is important, what action means, and they’re proving that diplomacy still exists.
David 18:35
[samba music] Mayors are bypassing gridlocked national governments. They’re sharing blueprints for zero-emission transit, pioneering circular economies, and building green infrastructure all without waiting for others to do the same. [music ends]
Caterina Sarfatti 18:54
The true added value in this moment of cities is one, to step up on climate leadership and political leadership on climate when national governments or delayers, or wreckers as our co-chair said, and actually showing that climate action is still possible. I think the fact that here in Rio de Janeiro there’s more than 30 cities from United States and dozens of governors really proves that there’s a big part of society in the United States that is actually taking action, filling that void. Filling that void of leadership when it’s missing. At the same time, European mayors were asking for ambitious targets and action on climate in these months where the European Union was a bit more slowly building up and rebuilding up their leadership role in climate. So, filling that void, I think, is part of the value, but the real, real added value is moving from an international space of just negotiation to one focused on action.
David 19:58
[melodic music] So, how exactly are C40 mayors and cities taking action? Well, at this World Mayors Summit C40 launched the Yearly Offer of Action. This initiative showcases what cities have achieved, what comes next, and how they’re accelerating delivery in the next 12 months to bring rising temperatures and climate breakdown under control. [music continues then ends]
Caterina Sarfatti 20:25
What it looks like is very simple. Now, during these days at the summit, more than 300 mayors have come together collectively—and I want to underline collectively, not each one of them alone, but together as one—saying that they are ready, not just to talk about distant targets in five years time, in 10 years time, not about what they have achieved in the past and showcase what they have achieved in the past, but they’re ready to say what they will be doing in the next 12 months and continue doing it every year before COP until climate breakdown is under control. There’s many, many examples from Rio de Janeiro who next year will put in place its first low-emission district in an area of the city, to Tokyo who will next year have a mandate to install solar panels on new buildings, to Phoenix that next year will do training—heat relief training for city employees to protect the people of the city. There’s many, many examples of these actions. But what it means is that instead of talking about the far away future, mayors are delivering action now. They’re doubling down, they’re continuing to do it, and they’re demonstrating that it’s possible at the pace that is needed. It’s not just about action, it’s about fast action, which is exactly what the world needs. And so, the reason why this is really important is because we are showing here in Rio what actually COP could look like if they were focused on action, people’s needs and city leadership. And so, this is why we want that. We want a space at COP for this action to be accountable, for this action to be shown every year, and a space where cities and national governments can come together and move from just negotiation to action and partnership.
David 22:17
[samba music] But what does this look like in reality? We spoke to some of the mayors taking part in this new initiative like Mayor Haris Doukas of Athens. [music continues then ends]
Mayor Haris Doukas 22:29
It’s critical that we have an offering of actions each year in order to be critical and transparent. So, what we said in Athens is that each year we will plant within the city 5,000 trees, we build—we create also micro forests, and we have also created an Energy Poverty Alleviation Office. This is critical for social issues because energy transition needs to be socially just. So, what we do, we identify social energy poor households, and for these households the offering is zero municipal fees. Zero. And then additional things like we produce in Athens green electricity with [inaudible 23:14] and a percentage is given virtually with virtual metering to these households. Additionally, a decisive step in our offering for 2026 is data-driven waste management. So, 360 sanitation vehicles with telematics, 12,000 bins with tags, and also 1000 sensors where we can see each bin when it is filled in order to go there and empty. Moreover, we’ve created a network of air quality sensors to check air quality. Imagine that in Athens the previous years 3000 deaths due to air pollution and heat waves.
David 24:04
[melodic music] Amman will scale up its solid waste management and source separation project and also expand zero and low emission transport options. Here’s Mayor Yousef Al Shawarbeh to tell us more. [music ends]
Mayor Yousef Al Shawarbeh 24:20
[speaking Arabic] [voice of translator] We launched the system of public transport with very low carbon emissions. Last month we launched, for the first time in Jordan, 15 buses which work on electricity, electric energy. The first time in Jordan. Definitely, this contributes to lowering the traffic jams and to reduce the carbon emissions as well, and, of course, it contributes to the clean air in our environment—in our atmosphere.
David 25:14
[samba music] Governing Mayor Eirik Lae Solberg of Oslo is continuing his city’s world-leading work in clean construction in their Yearly Offer of Action. [music continues then ends]
Governing Mayor Eirik Lae Solberg 25:26
For 2026 I’d like to highlight actions we’re taking in Oslo. The first one I’d point to is local regulation to make zero emission constructions in our construction sites the new norm. We have, in Oslo, pioneered clean construction initiated by the city, and the reason why we’ve done that is because emissions from construction is a fairly large part of our climate emissions. I think if we manage to rid that all together we would have reduced climate emissions by 12% points. We already have 180 municipally initiated building sites that have had zero free emissions. We tested it out and progressively moved on, and now we are taking next steps and looking at how we can make it into a local law and make it mandatory for other construction sites as well. We need to do that working [inaudible 26:19] so we phrase it in a way that they can deal with it.
David 26:23
[melodic music] The ambition of these city leaders is clear and the Yearly Offer of Action proves that cities and mayors are doers not the delayers when it comes to climate action. C40’s role is to support cities with the essential technical expertise, the financial structuring, and the crucial capacity building to deliver these climate initiatives. But to help us do this, we need support from philanthropy, national governments, and the corporate world. Their commitment to C40 allows cities to lead the charge, turning the challenge of the climate crisis into a massive opportunity to secure a healthier, fairer and more prosperous world for all. Let’s hear now from two such partners we spoke with at the summit. [music ends]
Søren Staugaard Nielsen 27:19
So, my name is Søren Staugaard Nielsen and I am the managing director of the Ramboll Foundation, and we are here at the Mayors Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The Ramboll Foundation is a Danish enterprise foundation that owns the company Ramboll. The company Ramboll is a big engineering company, around 18,000 engineers, architects, consultants, all working in the sustainability space. And the purpose of the foundation is to own the company forever. So, all the value that’s created in the company stays in the company or goes to the foundation where we give it away through philanthropy. The philanthropic ambitions of the foundation is really to enhance the impact of the company. We are looking for projects and missions that are recognizable with us, Ramboll. So, the reason to do unrestricted funding for C40 is because there is such a good match between the mission of C40 and the mission of our company and of our foundation.
David 28:15
[samba music] The Ramboll Foundation has partnered with C40 in the Green and Thriving Neighborhoods program to support pilot cities in maximizing the social wellbeing potential of 15-minute city interventions at neighborhood and city levels, embedding social wellbeing metrics in urban settings. The C40 Center has long advocated for alternative indexes to measure the health of our societies with wellbeing lying at its heart. [music continues then ends]
Søren Staugaard Nielsen 28:48
That is really about trying to understand what are the metrics with which you can measure a thriving neighborhood? That’s not easy, but it can be done. So, we can put up some metrics, but we can also identify the data that is required to use those metrics. By doing that, the projects can become catalytic for change because that can inspire others to really do what they can do with the means they have and the locations there are. But establishing it as not just a cost, but an investment.
David 29:19
[melodic music] But what does a green and thriving neighborhood look like in practice? [music ends]
Søren Staugaard Nielsen 29:24
There are so many examples from Copenhagen where our headquarters is just making the harbor so clean that you can swim at it, and establishing public baths in the harbor. It is cold, I can guarantee you.
David 29:34
[laughs]
Søren Staugaard Nielsen 29:35
But it’s clean, it increases property value and it attracts tourists, and there’s a whole, like, positive spiral around the city. It becomes, really, a livable place and that’s just a very visible example of how you can change your space into something that is more accountable and really inviting for people, and there’s value in that. It’s not just enjoyment, it’s real value as in commercial value.
David 29:58
[samba music] The Green and Thriving Neighborhoods program is an initiative that C40 is very proud of, and which had its own event at the summit where those involved shared experiences and learnings, including this next funder who sees the value in adopting a holistic wellbeing centric approach to climate action. [music ends]
Jo Jewell 30:19
So, my name is Jo Jewell and I’m the director of Social Responsibility Partnerships at Novo Nordisk. So, we have supported the summit three times in a row. So, we started in our home city of Copenhagen, and then we also supported it in Buenos Aires, and very happy to continue to support it now here in Rio, and it’s an amazing convening and it’s obviously an amazing place for conversations to take place and agendas to be set. But also, we are very committed to making change happen on the ground. We do that through our own network of cities called Cities for Better Health, where we have 54 cities, local, public-private partnerships and local coalitions making change happen. But again, we want to join forces rather than compete with others, and so we see in the C40 agenda. With the Green and Thriving Neighborhoods we see a shared vision for livable, equitable, greener communities and we love the neighborhood approach as well. And that’s, I think, what is unique about the Green and Thriving Neighborhoods, approaches that it takes are place-based approach and starts with the community to make change happen. Understanding what are the barriers in their day-to-day life that mean that they’re not able to live a healthy participatory lifestyle? What is it that can be done based on their ideas and their own co-creation and how can we make sure that that contributes to both health and environmental sustainability? We are working very closely hand-in-hand to support the Green and Thriving Neighborhood initiative, and one example of that was last year we had the Healthy Cities Challenge, which we co-organized together with C40, where we went out and said, “Please come with your most innovative ideas and we will bring a panel of local and global experts to evaluate them,” and we selected three winners. For example, we just have met here in Rio a project where they’re working on a very local neighborhood approach to both do tactical urban interventions, but also engage the community to make improvements that will drive healthier behaviors but also some of the climate and environmental goals that we are working towards. We see that health happens in the neighborhood. Yes, of course there’s a health system behind it. There’s the hospital for those who need it, but health is built in day-to-day life and people live in neighborhoods. And I think, you know, when you listen to mayors like Anne Hidalgo telling very, very inspiring stories about where change happens, it’s around schools where she’s—you know, she’s worked on removing roads running through the city center, and that’s all about creating places for health in everybody’s day-to-day environments. In their backyards so that when the kids go out they can play and be active. When people are looking to go shopping, they can walk there feeling safe and feeling confident without feeling that they have to get on motorized transport or take their own car to get there. That’s where health is created and that’s why we’re very committed to the neighborhood approach.
David 33:10
[melodic music] Funding initiatives such as the Green and Thriving Neighborhoods program are key to supporting our cities to become healthier, cleaner and greener. But to be fully successful, those programs need to be complimented by flexible funding. So, what exactly does that mean? Flexible funding is financial support that C40 can use at its discretion for any purpose it deems necessary to advance its overall mission rather than being tied to a specific project. This is crucial for nonprofits in covering general operational costs, but most importantly for any organization like C40 having flexible funding means we can respond in real time to the needs of our mayors when something is taking them off track. It’s also with this flexibility that we can test and incubate new ways to support cities in delivering their climate action. Our initial relationship with Ramboll Foundation has now developed into them providing us with exactly this kind of flexible support. This partnership enables C40 to innovate, adapt quickly to new ideas, and sustain its global capacity to support all our cities in delivering climate policies, as well as enabling vital new initiatives such as the Yearly Offer of Action. This type of funding is also often called trust-based funding because it does take the funder-grantee relationship beyond a traditional grant agreement. Let’s go back to Søren from Ramboll Foundation to tell us more. [music ends]
Søren Staugaard Nielsen 34:58
So, the unrestricted funding is really an opportunity for us to go beyond individual projects and support the mission itself. We have trust in the people and the mission of C40. So, it’s not something that we’ll be doing with all the budget we have available, this is really for the select few and also something that we are trying out. And as I understand, we are also one of the first unrestricted funders for a long time for C40. We hope to inspire others, really, to perhaps take a step back and have a look at their practices and see whether they can actually, yeah, trust the people and get more impact by allowing at least some of their fundings to go unrestricted to the entity, C40 in this case, that shares their vision and their mission and where there is trust in the people. So, multidisciplinary projects that enhance the quality of life in citizens is a huge part of the work we do, and that’s also why the foundation has selected that as our philanthropic mission. It is really because it fits really nicely with what Ramboll does. I think the philanthropic impact that we are having is focusing now on quality of life in cities and that there are so many technical solutions that can assist in that. And when we combine them with understanding of metrics around social wellbeing and being more multidisciplinary, having design integrated into that, I think that’s the kind of thinking that is that is really needed for cities. And if you can also have that early so you do not have individual practices that are applied later but have a holistic thinking from the beginning when you plan cities, I think that that’s where some of the solution lies. And that’s coming now to what I’ve experienced here at the summit, that’s really what the mayors want. That’s what they’re asking for. They’re really asking for holistic, well-thought through multidisciplinary thinking that it’s not just focusing on square meters and necessarily the cost, but also has all the other factors involved.
David 37:07
[melodic music] Without partnerships with and funding from organizations such as the Ramboll Foundation and Novo Nordisk C40 would simply not be able to support our mayors and cities in delivering the climate action the world desperately needs. We are profoundly grateful to all of our partners for their ongoing support of our mission to protect people and planet. [music ends]
[samba music] But another key factor in driving the battle against the climate crisis is figuring out precisely what needs to change to get the world on track to limit global heating to 1.5°, and crucially how to change it. Without clear roadmaps it can be impossible to see a path forward to avert climate breakdown. During my time in Rio I spoke with the honorable Catherine McKenna, former minister of the environment and climate change in my home country of Canada. She was a key negotiator at the Paris Agreement a decade ago and has had a front row seat in the development of the battle against the climate crisis. Catherine is currently chair of the UN Secretary General’s high level expert group on net zero commitments of non-state entities. This group has recently published Integrity Matters: Winning the Future, a report setting out where cities and others need to go next and what support is required. Let’s hear more about this from Catherine. [music continues then ends]
Hon. Catherine McKenna 38:48
So, when I left politics really quickly afterwards, I didn’t know this would happen, but Antonio Guterres, a massive climate champion, the UN Secretary General, asked me if I would serve as chair of this high-level expert group on net zero. And it was because he was worried about net zero commitments, that you can’t just say net zero and you’re net zero, we actually have to have criteria, so he wanted me to chair an expert group of experts around the world. He also wanted us to tackle greenwashing. He was really worried about greenwashing. And so, we did this first report, Integrity Matters, and it got a lot of play. We made it pretty easy. This had 10 recommendations written in kind of plain English, just saying, “Basically, if you want to commit to net zero you’ve got to do the work, and that means you have to have a short-term target and transition plan. You can’t just have long-term, you know, “Net zero by 2050,” that’s so far out that that doesn’t actually impact, you know, your actions. You need to make sure you’re reducing your emissions, moving money from fossil fuels to clean, no new investment in fossil fuel infrastructure, because that’s the science. You can’t lobby against climate action. You can’t just use cheap credits instead of reducing your emissions. You need to have your governance aligned.” So, there are incentives, that’s probably particular for businesses and financial institutions. “You need to, you know, stop deforestation and you need to support finance for developing countries.” And at the end, the 10th recommendation was, “And we need to regulate. Like we actually need, especially for companies and financial institutions, regulating means that it’s more—it’s a level playing field for folks.” So, that actually went over really well. It was very helpful for folks to call out greenwashing. The biggest greenwashers, actually, are Canada’s oil sands, sadly. Perfect example of committing to net zero and then not doing the work, increasing emissions, putting more money into fossil fuels [inaudible 40:40] shareholders but next to nothing [inaudible 40:42] and lobbying against policy. Second time, the second report I was asked to do is just as chair, and this was to show net zero progress. And we were able to point to cities and regions as a really bright spot that a lot of cities and regions, especially C40 cities, are really doing the work in a practical way right now. And we set a good example to everyone. Like we have leaders that show it’s not impossible, in fact, actually, it’s a better way to save money, to have better health outcomes and to, you know, take advantage of the solutions that are there. But our call was, “Do the work.” It was—literally, it was called Integrity Matters: Do the Work. [chuckles] Very blunt. And then the third report that just came out at the global Mayors Summit, which was amazing because all these mayors are, like, doing the work, it’s really focused on what happens in the past decade and why the Paris Agreement was foundational. Because I think a lot of people are like, “Paris Agreement is over.” I was like, “Just because Donald Trump came around that doesn’t make the Paris Agreement over,” and that it actually meant that we were able to go from over 4° of warming to 2.5°. 80% of the global economy is covered by net zero commitments. We need more integrity in them. But also, now for the next decade, which really has to be the decade of delivery, it’s now a no brainer, at least it should be, despite the geopolitics. The risks are so much higher than we imagined 10 years ago. The costs are so much higher. Like people are paying the costs in lives. In Canada, we’ve seen wildfires across the country getting worse and that it has an impact. 85,000 people in Canada had to be evacuated from their communities this summer. Like, think about that. Basically, climate refugees in Canada. So, like, there’s a whole range of impacts, floods, droughts, but we say the solutions. Like on the flip side, solutions are so much more amazing than we imagined 10 years ago, and so we have a huge opportunity to scale solutions that are more effective, that are cheaper and that are just better, and that’s everything from EVs to solar hanging from people’s—you know, from their apartment buildings. I think there’s all these great reasons to act and so then six recommendations. There’s six things we’ve got to do in the next decade. We have to have credible transition plans. You actually have to map out what you’re going to do and be held accountable against them. Two, we need to focus on the big transformational changes, solutions that are needed by 2030. And that is, like, really scaling up solar even more than we see now, and EVs, but also getting off coal. Third, it was about pricing climate risk. We’re not properly pricing climate risk and that has an impact on the markets, because people can think they can continue investing in fossil fuels. It doesn’t make any sense because of the costs and impacts. If you actually look to the real cost and impacts you would have a different approach. And regulators in particular have an important role to play, but everyone should be calling on that to happen. Fourth recommendation—And these are for—I should be clear, for cities, regions, companies, financial institutions. Fourth one is support for developing countries. And we hear this from cities. They are like—I mean we hear it from all cities to be perfectly honest. I heard it as a minister, “Try to flow a lot of money directly to cities, not through provinces,” but we need to make sure that the money is there for developing countries and, you know, cities and companies there so they can actually do the changes needed and also adapt to climate. And then we added two more and C40 has been really amazing on this. Cities have been really amazing. One is tackling climate disinformation. We are not going to tackle the climate crisis if we don’t tackle disinformation because it’s having a real impact on people’s opinions. The climate denial chief, you know, has an impact by going to the UN and talking about, you know, the green scam or whatever, but it’s all across the board and it’s on social media. And cities and regions actually have a huge opportunity because they can talk about real solutions for people, like whether it’s investing in public transit or, you know, more cycling paths or making water bodies in their area swimmable so that’s a way to deal with extreme heat. And then the last one is the supporting multilateralism. We need to support the Paris Agreement. There are people who are trying to say the Paris agreement is dead. It is not dead. It needs support and we cannot tackle, you know, climate crisis individually. That’s not a thing. And it’s also other groups. Like C40 Cities, you guys have been great. It’s really important that people come together through that and we need to better integrate cities in the COP process, like their voices and the actions they’re doing. So, hopefully very practical recommendations and, really, you know, to support us getting on track to where we need to be in climate.
C40 cities have exceeded their national governments’ reductions. Like, you guys are really leading the way. That’s awesome. And we always—I think we kind of underestimate how important big cities are. They control a huge amount of emissions and they can make a massive difference.
David 45:34
[melodic music] The point Catherine makes about the urgency of cities having a formal role in the COP process is vital, and we’ll be hearing more about why the action of cities is necessary for COP to succeed in the next episode. Cities are doing all they can to demonstrate that climate action in line with 1.5° is possible. But will national governments listen and act? As we publish this episode, we’re in the final critical stages of COP 30 Belém with many climate leaders expressing negativity about potential outcomes. But Christiana Figueres, former head of the UN Climate Convention and co-host of Outrage + Optimism, the official podcast of COP 30, has a more nuanced take. [music ends]
Christiana Figueres 46:27
This COP is not going to be an easy COP. I have never been to an easy COP, and I have been to quite a few. What I do know is that the direction toward global decarbonization of the global economy is absolutely the path that we’re on and is a path that is increasing in speed and in coverage, because every day we’re covering larger and larger segments of the economic sectors. And so, that is something that we’re not going to reverse and we’re actually definitely behind schedule with respect to what science expects from the global economy for sure. Definitely not defending clearly the 1.5° temperature ceiling for sure. But are we in the right direction? Yes.
David 47:23
[samba music] Whatever the climate records might say, the global path toward decarbonization is set and is accelerating. Christiana is delivering daily updates from COP via the Outrage + Optimism podcast, which is linked in our show notes along with the Integrity Matters report and the other initiatives mentioned in this episode.
In the second part of our summit special, which goes live on the 2nd of December, we’ll be hearing more from Christiana. There will also be on the ground analysis of the so-called ‘COP of Truth’ from C40 executive director Mark Watts, along with a deep dive into more of the new initiatives launched at the World Mayors Summit. We’ll be hearing from our mayors who are leading the way in emissions reductions and safeguarding communities from climate impacts, and, of course, we’ll be analyzing the COP 30 outcomes and what they mean for cities, mayors, urban diplomacy, and the future of our planet. [music ends]
[Cities 1.5 theme music ] I’d like to thank Bloomberg Philanthropies for its generous support of the 2025 C40 World Mayors Summit in Rio de Janeiro, without which the summit truly would not have been possible.
This has been Cities 1.5, leading global change through local climate action. I’m David Miller. I was the mayor of Toronto, Canada, and I know firsthand the role cities can play in solving the climate crisis. Currently, I’m the editor-in-chief of the Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy, published by the University of Toronto Press in collaboration with the C40 Center where I’m also the managing director. C40 brings together the voices and the actions of the world’s major cities to help the world avoid climate breakdown.
Cities 1.5 is produced by the University of Toronto Press in association with the Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy and C40 Cities. This podcast is produced by Jessica Schmidt and edited by Morgane Chambrin. Our executive producers are Peggy Whitfield and Chiara Morfeo. Our music is by Lorna Gilfedder. The fight for an empowered world is closer than you think. To learn more, visit the show’s website linked in the episode notes. See you next time. [music ends]
