Mayors Step Up to Fill Climate Change Leadership Gap

On Monday, June 26, The United States Conference of Mayors, including both Republican and Democratic mayors from across the nation, met in Miami and adopted several resolutions to fight climate change. One of the resolutions the attendees agreed upon includes a pledge supporting commitments to run their cities on 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. If all of the cities in the conference were to run on 100 percent renewable energy, they would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 619 million metric tons, which is about equal to 42 percent of the US electricity consumption. Some other resolutions passed during the conference include: -Supporting a Cities-Driven Plan to reverse Climate Change -Supporting Reauthorization/Full and Dedicated Funding of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants -Support of Federal water Resources Funding -Support of National Water Workforce Efforts In May, after President Donald Trump removed the country from the Paris agreement, a survey, conducted by the conference and the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, went out to all conference members and the mayors of about 1,400 cities with populations of 30,000 people or more. Not all have responded, but the initial data collected shows that 90 percent are interested in creating climate plans, enabling transportation programs, or purchase equipment such as electric vehicles. Many cities have been pushing for more action on climate change for a while, but since the withdrawal from the Paris Climate agreement, the mayors have stepped up to make a change. So far, the mayors of 120 cities have formally signed the Sierra Club’s pledge, to “support a vision of 100% clean and renewable energy in their cities, towns, and communities, across the country,” with others expressing their desire to do the same. Another organization called Climate Mayors that includes 338 US mayors that represent 65 million Americans that also chose to commit to the goals of the Paris Agreement. Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York says, “We’ll expand our work to empower more mayors to lead the fight against climate change so that America can meet the goals it set in Paris, no matter what happens in Washington.” The majority of the mayors of 1,408 American cities believe that the local government can take on a larger role in shaping policy in America without the federal government. New Orleans Mayor, Mitch Landrieu says, “We can show America what leadership really looks like.” To read all of the resolutions passed: http://legacy.usmayors.org/resolutions/85th_Conference/proposed.asp To read more about the green building community response to the Paris Accord Withdrawal: https://medium.com/@ClimateMayors/climate-mayors-commit-to-adopt-honor-and-uphold-paris-climate-agreement-goals-ba566e260097 To view the Sierra’s Club Pledge and who has signed it: http://www.sierraclub.org/ready-for-100/mayors-for-clean-energy