GreenBiz
Looking from his coastal “Marvelous City” to COP21 in the “City of Lights” this winter, Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes aims to push carbon reductions and resilience before the United Nations.
In August, Rio announced that it is the first of 136 cities to meet the requirements of the global Compact of Mayors. In other words, the metropolis of 6.5 million has been keeping track of greenhouse gas emissions and the effects of climate change, and creating an action plan in response to those findings.
“Mayor Paes has turned Rio de Janeiro into a global model for action on climate change,” said former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a statement. “The fact that Rio has become the first city in the world to fulfill the requirements of the Compact of Mayors speaks to his commitment to the issue — and his determination to lead from the front.” As the U.N. special envoy for cities and climate change, Bloomberg helped in 2014 to launch the compact, a coalition that includes the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability.
Mayor Paes hopes to lead a resilience renaissance in Rio, and has even delivered a TED Talk called “The 4 Commandments of Cities.” Here, he highlights the next steps in this direction.
Read the full interview here.