Mayors adopt Seoul Declaration to fight climate change

Mayors of major cities around the world yesterday adopted the "Seoul Declaration," reaffirming their commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and making collective efforts to combat climate change.

The declaration, which was announced at the end of the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit in Seoul, calls on major cities to transform themselves into "low-carbon cities."



"The declaration states members` consensus as to the seriousness of climate change, cities` responsibility and the need for collective actions," Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said.

"C40 cities set a goal of transforming themselves into low-carbon cities, by cutting greenhouse gas emissions to the largest extent possible, by adapting themselves to the unavoidable climate change consequences, by making cities less vulnerable to climate change and by enhancing cities` capacity for remediation."

Mayors and delegates from 80 cities in 41 countries participated in the third biennial summit of the C40 Climate Leadership Group. The group was established in 2005 to fight climate change with an emphasis on the role of cities, which account for around 75 percent of global energy consumption and 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

The C40 CLG, which is chaired by Toronto mayor David Miller, has 40 member cities, including New York, Paris, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Sydney and Shanghai, and 17 affiliates, including Seattle, Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Copenhagen.

The declaration also urged that the leading role of cities in global efforts against climate change be recognized at the United Nations` conference on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December.

The conference has been regarded as crucial in the global fight against climate change as it is expected to adopt a new commitment on greenhouse gas emission cuts to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The declaration also states that C40 cities will identify their current level of carbon emissions from all city operations and stages of community development, reduce emissions wherever possible and take steps to negate the impact of remaining emissions.



C40 cities will also work together to accelerate the delivery of low-carbon technologies, programs and financing through active coordination in procurement of specific technologies through the C40 Secretariat, according to the declaration.

The fourth C40 summit will be in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2011. The first summit, where 18 cities took part, took place in London in 2005 and the second, where 51 cities participated, was in New York City in 2007.

By Song Sang-ho



(sshluck@heraldm.com)