Amid a flurry of concerted efforts to promote urban inclusion at December’s COP 21 climate change conference in Paris, this week the C40 Cities launched their report Powering Climate Action: Cities as Global Changemakers at the London offices of Arup. The report analyses the actions cities must take to influence climate change and the typologies of city governance models which exist among the C40’s membership, which includes not only London but also Tokyo and Yokohama.
The study, which was undertaken with the support of UCL’s City Leadership Institute (where JLGC’s Andrew Stevens is an honorary Senior Research Fellow), maps the models of city leadership which exist across the world and analyses their strengths in capacity, not only to initiate meaningful climate actions but also leverage their innate networks among the private sector and civil society to collaborate around this.
While mayors are often seen as the sine qua non of city leadership, the report acknowledges that a wide range of typologies exist across the world and are often differentiated by region (in terms of powers and assets held which directly impact on climate change e.g. energy networks, waste etc. as well as mandates and leadership models): facilitating, providing, collaborating, legislating, implementing and commanding. For instance, while Tokyo is scored as ‘commanding’ for its lead on adaptation, Yokohama is ranked ‘facilitating’ on account of its partnerships with the private sector in energy supply.
You can read the C40 press release here and download the report in full here.
