DCC endorses global coalition to tackle climate change

Dunedin (Monday, 27 June 2016) – Dunedin City Council has welcomed the international Compact of Mayors joining forces with the European Union Covenant of Mayors to tackle climate change.

The world's two primary city-led climate change and energy initiatives last week announced they will combine efforts and leadership to accelerate climate action at the local level across the globe.

The new Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy will be the world's largest coalition of mayors supporting voluntary action to combat climate change and move to a low carbon economy.

Dunedin City Council last year passed a series of resolutions aimed at addressing climate change, including a commitment to the Compact of Mayors.

Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull says, "I am pleased to see the Compact of Mayors join forces with the EU Covenant of Mayors.

"The coalition recognises the need for significant and urgent action on climate change and allows for greater collaboration between cities across the globe to achieve this. This strong, global agreement also demonstrates that climate change is now a core issue for communities throughout the world.

"On my recent visit to China, civic leaders from Shanghai, Qingdao and Qingyuan all acknowledged the growing challenges to their cities of climate induced inundation of one type or another," says Mr Cull.

As a Compact of Mayors signatory, the DCC has already committed to measuring greenhouse gas emissions, setting and reporting against reduction targets and adopting an action plan.

Mr Cull says work is already underway on achieving both first and second year compliance within the first year of commitment. This involves completing a community-wide emissions inventory and identifying vulnerabilities and hazards. The next steps will be meeting third year compliance which involves developing strategic actions to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change.

"The DCC is committed to mitigating the effects of climate change. We've taken a number of significant first steps in this direction in recent times including divesting our shares from fossil fuel companies, agreeing to gradually introduce electric vehicles to the DCC fleet, investing in more active transport and adopting an Energy Plan just to name a few.

"As we move into implementation of our Energy Plan and the setting of our Compact greenhouse gas target, we will be doing so as part of a network of cities committed to action on climate change.

The Covenant of Mayors was launched in 2008 by the European Union after the adoption of the 2020 European Union Climate and Energy Package.

The Compact of Mayors was launched in September 2014 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change Michael R Bloomberg.

Both initiatives have supported participating local governments in setting ambitious climate reduction goals, taking ambitious action to meet those objectives and measuring their progress publicly and transparently.

The new single initiative builds on the commitment of more than 7,100 cities from 119 countries and six continents, representing more than 600 million people.

More information about the new initiative is available at www.compactofmayors.org

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