The global mayoral board leadership for the newly created Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy has been announced.
Today, during the C40 Cities Mayors Summit in Mexico City, group co-chairs Michael R. Bloomberg, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change (and former mayor of New York City), and Maroš Šefčovič, vice president of the European Commission, announced the following leaders of the group:
- Mayor Kasim Reed of Atlanta;
- Mayor Patricia De Lille of Cape Town, South Africa;
- Mayor Mohamed Sefiani of Chefchaouen, Morocco;
- Mayor Anne Hidalgo of Paris;
- Mayor Mauricio Rodas of Quito, Ecuador;
- Mayor Jaiman Upadhyay of Rajkot, India;
- Mayor Park Won-soon of Seoul, South Korea;
- Mayor Tri Rismaharini of Surabaya, Indonesia; and
- Mayor Gregor Robertson of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), will serve as vice chair of the board. Patricia Espinosa, current UNFCCC executive secretary, will join the board as an observer and advisor.
In addition, Bloomberg’s special advisor for climate change, Amanda Eichel, will become the executive director for the global secretariat, which houses the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy.
The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy formally brings together the Compact of Mayors and the EU Covenant of Mayors – two global initiatives to assist cities and local governments in their transition to a low-carbon economy. The coalition comprises more than 7,100 cities across six continents and 119 countries – representing over 600 million people (or 8% of the global population).
“The leadership of cities is more important than ever in the fight against climate change,” says Bloomberg. “This group’s diverse experience from cities on every continent will help support local action and speed global progress.”
Šefčovič adds, “By bringing together the EU Covenant of Mayors and the Compact of Mayors, we expand our global reach to strengthen and mobilize local leadership in every corner of the world. Now, as our board of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy takes shape, we’re proud to be joined by these climate champions who are strengthening action in their cities and committed to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
