What role for cities in the international climate negotiations of Paris 2015?

Seven months before the United Nations Climate Conference in Paris, the largest diplomatic event ever to be organized in France, the time has come for key players to take meaningful commitments and concrete action. The success of COP21 requires that all stakeholders be mobilized, and this at all levels.

Responsible for 70% of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, and home to more than half of the world population, cities are an essential player in the fight against climate change.

Laurence Tubiana, Ambassador for Climate Change Negotiations, Special Representative of French Government for the Paris Climate Conference of 2015, Director of the Chaire Développement durable at Sciences Po

 

Gregor Robertson, Mayor of Vancouver

Claire Roumet, Executive Director, Energy Cities

 

will share their view and experience of the fight against climate change and of the preparation for COP21.

What role for cities in international cooperation on climate change? How do cities work together across borders in order to accelerate the environmental transition at the global level?

How do they contribute positively to the political will that is so necessary to achieve an ambitious agreement in Paris?

Across the globe, many cities have implemented policies to retrofit buildings, develop sustainable mobility, preserve biodiversity and reduce air and water pollution. Such are the pillars of their efforts to protect the environment and ensure the health of their citizens. Through their projects at the local level, and through their involvement in international networks such as the C40 and ICLEI, cities demonstrate, today, that the transtion toward resilient and decarbonized societies is well underway.

Finally, a student will present Paris Climat 2015 : Make it work, a Sciences Po initiative aimed at mobilizing universities all over the world for the 2015 international climate negotiations, including a 200-student simulation of COP21 end of May.

 

Moderator : Vincent Renard, Senior advisor “Urban fabric”, IDDRI