A new urban paradigm pathways to sustainable development

City climate leadership
and the New Urban Agenda
by Emmanuelle Pinault 1
For over 10 years, the C40 Cities Climate
Leadership Group (C40) has been a critical
driver of climate action in the world’s
largest and most influential cities. Founded
in 2005, C40’s network of 86 cities—
representing more than 600 million people
around the world and one quarter of the
global economy—is committed to tackling
climate change and driving urban action
that reduces greenhouse gas emissions
and climate risks. C40 helps cities identify,
develop and implement local policies and
programmes that have collective global
impact, while increasing the health,
well-being and economic opportunities
of urban citizens.
Working across multiple sectors and
initiative areas, C40 empowers cities
to connect with each other and share
common goals and challenges, providing
a suite of services in support of their
efforts: direct technical assistance;
facilitation of peer-to-peer exchange;
and research, knowledge management,
city diplomacy and communications.
C40 understands that cities are a leading
force for climate action around the world
and positions them as such, defining
and amplifying their call to national
governments for greater support
and autonomy in creating a
sustainable future.
Demonstrating the social and economic
benefits of climate action in cities
For the first time, more than half of C40
cities are from the Global South, a reality
that not only benefits those cities—which
can draw lessons and tap into technical
expertise from thriving cities around the
globe—but also enriches the knowledge
base for cities throughout the network.
C40’s increasing focus on cities from the
Global South represents a concerted push
to help address the interlinked issues of
equity, climate change and prosperity.
By empowering cities to implement climate
action, C40 hopes to help member cities
become models for achieving equitable,
economically sound, low-carbon and
resilient development. In the years to
come, C40 will help cities to integrate
equity into their climate policies, with an
emphasis on underserved communities,
such as women, unemployed citizens
and lower-income populations located
on the city’s periphery.
Access to financing is one of the
greatest barriers blocking cities from
resilience planning and from achieving
the sustainable infrastructure projects
necessary to cut greenhouse gas
emissions and to limit the global
temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius
(C40 Cities 2016a). Through programmes
such as the C40 Finance Facility, the
Financing Sustainable Cities Initiative
and others, C40 is striving to support
cities to overcome these challenges and
enable them to implement sustainable
projects throughout the Global South.
Cycling infrastructure in Bogotá and a
fleet of electric buses in Mexico City are
the first two pilot projects for the C40
Cities Finance Facility, which will each
receive up to USD1 million in dedicated
technical assistance, provided by experts
in preparing urban infrastructure
projects. Those projects will deliver
significant reductions in greenhouse
gas emissions, supporting the cities’
efforts to become sustainable,
low-carbon mega-cities.
Habitat III: a highly inclusive process
At the end of 2015, cities played a central
role at the Conference of the Parties
(COP) 21 in Paris, pushing national leaders
to reach the ambitious Paris Climate
Agreement. In October 2016, nations
convened again in Quito for Habitat
III, to adopt the New Urban Agenda
(NUA), a global framework designed
specifically to guide urbanisation efforts
around the globe. The NUA offers a
roadmap for national governments,
city and regional leaders, investors,
international development funders, United
Nations programmes, civil society and
other stakeholders for the policies and
investments needed to secure a bright
future for cities everywhere.
Habitat III has been a highly inclusive
political process: in the last 12 months, many
preparatory meetings have convened all
types of stakeholders to discuss all aspects
of the urban agenda. The policy papers and
the successive drafts of the NUA were made
publicly available, 2 giving all stakeholders
the opportunity to contribute.
As a member of the Global Task Force of
Local and Regional Governments, C40
has proudly and actively supported the
collective advocacy of cities throughout
the Habitat III process. This is now
acknowledged in the final draft of the
NUA, which explicitly references ‘local
governments’, recognises the role of the
World Assembly of Local Leaders in its
definition and follow-up, and proposes
a renewed urban governance structure.
Integrating the climate,
urban and development agendas:
a missed opportunity
Efforts to address climate change—from
green jobs to building efficiency to lowcarbon
transportation—touch nearly every
sector of urban operations. Therefore,
the pursuit of low-carbon development
across different sectors presents a
substantial opportunity for cities to tackle
the dual challenges of inequality and
climate change together, while ensuring
sustainable economic growth.
Habitat III could have been a compelling
moment to deliver an implementation plan
for the 2030 Sustainable Development
Agenda and the Paris Agreement at the
urban level. This, unfortunately, has not
happened. Although the 2015 frameworks
on disaster risk reduction, finance,
development and climate change are
referenced in it, the NUA does not outline
concrete plans to reinforce them and
further their aims, missing the opportunity
to integrate the urban, climate and
development agendas.
Including a much stronger statement on
the necessity to build low-carbon and
resilient cities in the NUA would have
been hugely useful in helping the world
28