Highly recommend making time for the @c40cities.bsky.social & LSE Nicky Gavron Memorial Lecture recording. @annehidalgo.bsky.social’s speech was extraordinary, and the dynamic with fellow mayors Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr and @mayorgallego.bsky.social was electrifying. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c9h...

A city for all: leading climate transformation in an era of disinformation

YouTube video by LSE Cities

youtube.com

Resilience was the clear theme at the recent World Cities Summit I attended in Singapore 👇 One message stood out: urban nature is not a luxury – it is essential infrastructure for building liveable, resilient cities.

This morning, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne @nicholasreece.bsky.social & I spoke with @news.abc.net.au to discuss how cities around the world dealing with extreme heat and flooding. I’m looking forward to sharing more insights on how Sydney and Melbourne are protecting the people and places we love.

This week I’m in Australia, visiting the two C40 member cities: Sydney and Melbourne. I joined Lord Mayor @nicholasreece.bsky.social, Cathy Oke, and Jess Miller to discuss the role of cities in shaping the COP31 agenda as Australia prepares to take on the presidency of the climate negotiations.

In cities, resilience and nature can go hand in hand. Beijing transformed a former industrial site into a lush space that absorbs rainwater, reduces flood risk, and allows wildlife to thrive. Places like City Central Green Forest Park show what’s possible.

It’s amazing what the shift to renewables can look like. A theme park, a transport hub, and a library – all powered by clean energy. In Beijing, the transition is visible and practical, powering the places people use every day.

The best climate solutions do several things at once. At Shanghai's Luojing Port, ships plug in instead of burning fuel, cutting noise & cleaning the air for workers & nearby communities. The shift also helps push global shipping towards greener operations. That's the power of city climate action.

Beijing has cut PM2.5 pollution by nearly 70% since 2013, and you can feel and see the difference. More people outdoors, more cycling and running, more green spaces. Climate action woven into everyday life looks just like this.

As climate risks accelerate, investment in resilience is essential - and cities are on the front lines. C40 Cities' new report confirms what cities have known all along: that well-designed adaptation projects deliver clear economic and financial value.

Heidi Sørensen, who passed away on 25 April after living with cancer for years, was a pioneer in the global climate movement. At C40 Cities, we remember Heidi as a tenacious innovator who proved that cities must lead the way in solving the climate crisis.

Cities are showing that a future beyond fossil fuels is possible - and already underway. From cutting demand to scaling clean energy, mayors and local leaders are turning ambition into delivery. The task now is to ensure that the transition is just, coordinated, and irreversible.

“Global events demonstrate there’s not a moment to waste in our drive for clean power”. observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

Ed Miliband: ‘Our mission is to drive for clean, homegrow...

As oil and gas prices soar, the UK must act to nurture green power and protect the nation from the war’s impact on household bills

observer.co.uk

To all the incredible women leading the way towards a fairer, cleaner, climate-safe future - including the 70% of @c40cities.bsky.social colleagues who are female & our amazing co-Chair, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Happy International Women’s Day!

A commentary in @nature.com argues the 1.5°C temperature limit has “outlived its usefulness” because we’re headed towards overshoot and should be replaced by a “clean-energy shift” metric. That’s the wrong diagnosis. Here is why. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

As we breach 1.5 °C, we must replace temperature limits with clean-energy targets

Actionable goals are needed to guide the world towards what needs to happen most quickly: shifting economies to clean energy sources.

nature.com

Great to meet with New York’s new Chief Climate Officer, Louise Yeung and other colleagues from across the NYC city government. New York has long been a climate leader. As one of the first members of C40 Cities, it has always set the pace for bold and practical action.

A standout moment at the #WMS25: youth activists declaring, "We do this for our today, we do this for our tomorrow, and we will do this together.” This new Hot Takes episode from the Cities 1.5 podcast brings the young voices we heard to even more people - an absolute must-listen: lnk.to/HotTakes2

A $10B fraud. 2 whistleblowers. On Cities 1.5, David Miller, Managing Director of the C40 Centre and former Mayor of Toronto, speaks with Lindsay Gulden about exposing Exxon’s fraudulent ways and the disinformation playbook behind it all. https://c40.me/3OwZpHT

How 2 people helped expose a $10B Exxon scandal. I highly recommend the latest episode of Cities 1.5, where Lindsey Gulden sheds light on how Exxon’s shocking overvaluation was protected by disinformation and silence. The fossil fuel industry’s culture of deception must be stopped. lnk.to/S6E3

“One city does something and a hundred of us then will take it to scale. I find hope in the fact that cities can make this work” - inspiring words for difficult times from the Mayor of Austin, Kirk Watson, in the latest episode of the Cities 1.5 podcast: lnk.to/S6E2

Privileged to accompany @london.gov.uk to welcome United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, to London today. Inspired by his leadership on climate & so much else & motivated by his message that we must up the pressure to shift off polluting fossil fuels

We must end the fossil fuel era. UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, knows this better than anyone. I want to thank him for his steadfast climate leadership and his commitment to phasing out fossil fuels. A pleasure to meet today together with C40 Cities Co-Chair, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

My comment on the #COP30 outcome: Multilateralism needed a boost in Belém, and instead it got a bandage. The COP process needs to take a long, hard look at itself.

As we wait for the official outcome of #COP30, here’s a time capsule of its last day: the outrage, the optimism, the urgency, and the sheer human effort that goes into trying to land a deal. The latest episode of @outrageoptimism.bsky.social featuring C40’s Eric Garcetti & @mark--watts.bsky.social:

Inside COP: Friday Night in Belém - uncertainty in the Blue Zone

This episode is a time capsule that captures the feeling of a COP Friday: the confusion, the determination, the fear of losing ambition, and the belief, still very much alive, that progress is possibl...

outrageandoptimism.org

🚨BREAKING: C40 Cities reacts to the disappointing draft outcome of #COP30 @mark--watts.bsky.social, C40 Cities Executive Director, on the draft of the Belém Political Package: “The draft texts we've seen this morning in Belém suggest several parties are trying to leave the global mutirão in ashes.

How are cities and subnational leaders turning negotiation into action? This #COP30 booklet captures the crucial role cities play in tackling the climate crisis, and lays out our COP30 asks. To deliver climate action at the speed required, subnational inclusion at COPs cannot be overlooked.

We start the final week of #COP30 with strong momentum behind our push for greater inclusion of cities as key partners in the delivery of these critical climate negotiations. A thread 👇 (1/7)

#Disinformation is a core topic at #COP30. C40's @mark--watts.bsky.social on how mayors are tackling it: "C40 supports the importance @lulaoficialbluesky.bsky.social has placed on information integrity and tackling disinformation. Cities can play a critical role in making this the ‘COP of Truth’.

In case you missed it: Yesterday, I joined the COP30 Briefing Room and spoke with @projectsyndicate.bsky.social about climate disinformation, how local leaders are driving progress and our yearly offers of action. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NaY...

The COP30 Briefing Room Day 2 – 11 November

YouTube video by Project Syndicate

youtube.com

It’s time to move from promises and negotiations at #COP30 to delivering climate action. To unlock progress, we should focus on where the decisions are really made: cities. Read my op-ed in @politico.com with Jader Barbalho Filho, Minister of Cities, Brazil. www.politico.eu/sponsored-co...

Cities stand ready to lead the decade of delivery at COP30

It’s time to move from promises and negotiations to delivering climate action. To unlock progress, we should focus on where the decisions are really made: cities.

politico.eu

🚨BREAKING: #COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago opens COP highlighting the role of cities 🏙️ "Subnational entities play a central role in implementing the decisions made at COPs. To stop climate change, multilateralism is unquestionably the way forward.”