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Mayors call for reforms to help cities finance action on climate change at Habitat III

Xinhua, October 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

Mayors of the world's major cities on Monday called on national governments and international financial institutions to help finance low-carbon and sustainable projects.

The Call for Action on Municipal Infrastructure Finance was launched here during the third UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, or Habitat III, being held in Quito on Oct. 17-20.

The call was endorsed by 27 leading international organizations, including the UN Environment Program and World Resources Institute.

"Cities must be granted direct access to international climate funds; national governments must create a stable policy and regulatory environment; innovation, standardization, pooling and pipelines must become the new normal," said the document.

If implemented, those measures would help create a sustainable and low-carbon future for millions of urban citizens, according to C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40), a network of the world's megacities committed to addressing climate change.

"The recommendations of the Call for Action have the potential to revolutionize the way climate action is financed and delivered in cities," said Miguel Angel Mancera, the mayor of Mexico City and the vice-chair of C40.

"I have made it a priority of my time as Chair of C40 to ensure cities can get access to the finance they need to deliver on their climate change ambitions," said Eduardo Paes, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro and the C40 chair.

"I am delighted that the C40 Steering Committee and our members have endorsed such a bold and concrete set of proposals," said Paes.

Mayor of Paris and C40 Chair-elect Anne Hidalgo also spoke highly of the measures that C40 cities have taken to tackle climate change, saying that mayors are determined to implement the Paris Agreement.

"Now national and regional governments, along with financial institutions must also act to give cities the power they need to create a sustainable future," said Hidalgo.

Financing climate action in cities is a major priority for C40 and will be a key theme of the C40 Mayors Summit 2016, to be held in Mexico City from Nov. 30 to Dec.2. Rio de Jeneiro will hand over the chair of the C40 to Paris during the summit.

The summit will bring together the world's most influential mayors who will represent 650 million people to present their common goals for a sustainable future, one year after Paris climate change conference. Endi