EUROCITIES Environment Forum Nice October 2012 - Climate change mitigation and adaptation

When it comes to tackling climate change, cities are important players. While cities produce some 80% of greenhouse gas emissions, they are also best placed to change the attitudes and behaviour of citizens and businesses. We believe that, given the right support, cities can drive forward green growth.

Driven by our members’ ambitions, in 2008, we launched a ‘declaration on climate change’ reiterating the crucial role cities play in tackling climate change and confirming local leaders’ commitment.

Our Green Digital Charter commits signatories to tackling climate change through the uptake of digital technologies, and to decreasing the carbon footprint of ICTs in cities by 30%. The charter now boasts more than 20 signatories and is supported and promoted by the EUROCITIES-led Networking intelligent Cities for Energy Efficiency (NiCE) project, which began in September 2011.

We are also active in a number of European initiatives relating to climate change and energy efficiency, including the renowned Covenant of Mayors, which sees city leaders commit to reducing carbon emissions by at least 20% by 2020, as well as CIVITAS, CASCADE, European Mobility Week and EPOMM.

We’ve also teamed up with other city networks in the ‘local government climate roadmap’ which outlines how our networks are jointly pushing for an ambitious post-2012 global climate agreement and for the recognition of cities’ efforts in climate change mitigation.

We operate several working groups which allow members to exchange views and share knowledge around this global challenge.