Foreword Foreword Michael Bloomberg


Mayor of New York City and Chair of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40)


Throughout my career as a businessman, mayor and now chair of the C40, I have learned the critical connection between good data and good decisions: if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. That’s true in business, and it’s true in government. Only by regularly and rigorously measuring and analyzing our efforts can we learn what works, what doesn’t, and take effective action.


The data in this report has been compiled from a voluntary disclosure process in which C40 cities reported standardized information about their climate impact and associated plans for action. Aside from limited academic studies, no systematic reporting of carbon emissions currently exists across the large cities of the world. It is the first of its kind, and more than a symbolic gesture…


This candid report establishes an invaluable baseline of information for future actions that can be taken locally, but have a global impact. This transparency will give people everywhere confidence that cities – the level of government closest to the majority of people on the earth – have the foresight and courage to confront the greatest challenge that humanity has ever created for itself.


For the first time in history, half of the world’s people live in cities and together are responsible for more than 70 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas production. Collectively, the C40 cities account for approximately 21 percent of the global Gross Domestic Product. Roughly 12 percent of the world’s carbon emissions are produced in our metropolitan areas. And nearly one of every 12 people on Earth lives in or near our cities’ limits.


Granted there is no single solution for confronting global climate change. Still, the best scientific data tells us that it is long past time to address this challenge, and that cities must lead the way. This report represents a critical first step in our leadership – as individual Mayors and as a collective - towards a common, sustainable future.


2 © 2011 Carbon Disclosure Project


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