#COP21: 10 Global Cities Win Prestigious C40 Cities Awards

Today, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) announced the winners of the third-annual C40 Cities Awards, recognizing ten global cities for their leadership in tackling climate change across key sectors. The Awards ceremony was held on Thursday night in Paris during the COP21 climate negotiations.

Winning cities, including Boston, Johannesburg, Rotterdam and Nanjing each demonstrated exceptional innovation and ambition to build low carbon and climate resilient urban communities. Winners were recognised for a diverse set of world-class policies, projects or programs, including Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Plan, which sets a roadmap for it to become the greenest city in the world by 2020, and Wuhan’s ecological restoration of one of the city’s largest landfill sites.

Felipe Calderón, former President of Mexico and Chair of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate serves as Chair of the C40 Cities Awards Jury Panel, who selected the winners from among 33 finalists announced in October, 2015.

“As leaders from around the world meet in Paris to agree binding emission targets, the efforts of these 10 Award-winning cities remind us that innovation drives results, and concrete solutions and actions – that improve the health, well-being and economic opportunities of urban citizens — can be implemented right now. I thank our esteemed Jury Panel and commend my fellow mayors for their leadership and commitment to tackle climate change. By taking local action, we are having a global impact,” said C40 Chair, Mayor of Rio de Janeiro Eduardo Paes.

This year’s winners in the ten award categories are:

– Boston (Smart Cities & Smart Community Engagement)

– Cape Town (Adaptation Implementation)

– Johannesburg (Finance & Economic Development)

– Nanjing (Transportation)

– New York (Building Energy Efficiency)

– Rotterdam (Adaptation Planning & Assessment)

– Stockholm (Sustainable Communities)

– Vancouver (Carbon Measurement & Planning)

– Washington, DC (Green Energy)

– Wuhan (Solid Waste)

“The C40 Cities Awards recognizes mayors who are doing the hard work of taking action on climate change — and delivering results. The solutions highlighted through the Awards offer models for other cities to follow, and it is great to see the number of applications increase each year — a sure sign that our progress is accelerating,” said C40 President and UN Secretary General Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change Michael R. Bloomberg.  “Cities are leading by example, and tonight’s winners are at the forefront of that work.”

“Just as the global environmental leaders gather in Paris today, BYD is determined to actively participate to promote the sustainable development of the world. The technological innovation resulting from BYD’s 16,000 engineers and researchers can be seen in our public transportation solutions, including pure electric buses and taxis, now found in more than 160 cities globally,” said Chuanfu Wang, Chairman and President of BYD Co. Ltd. “BYD sends our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has contributed to global sustainable development, especially the 10 C40 Awards winning cities – each city has set a fine example for others to follow. BYD would be proud to work with these cities to apply more advanced technologies and solutions to make the world more green.”

C40 received more than 200 applications from 94 cities for the 2015 Awards; these were reviewed in partnership with sustainability think tank and consultancy Sustainia.  Of the ten awards categories, four are open to C40 Cities and those that are part of the Compact of Mayors, a global coalition of mayors and city officials committed to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions, enhance resilience to climate change and track their progress transparently.

C40 Cities Awards winners represent leading projects in urban sustainability, but city climate action is accelerating around the world – according to recent C40 research, C40 cities have taken 10,000 city climate actions since the last major COP in Copenhagen.

The 3^rd Annual C40 Cities Awards was made possible thanks to support from Bloomberg Philanthropies and global electric vehicle leader BYD Company Ltd.