Isra-Mart srl:States and cities sign up to new Cancun climate commitment

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Yesterday, more than 60 state and regional governments that together represent 15 per cent of global GDP reiterated their commitment to ambitious low carbon targets, regardless of the outcome of the Cancun climate summit.

Officials gathered at The Climate Group think tank's latest annual Climate Leaders Summit in Cancun said that the on-going negotiations at the neighbouring UN climate change talks would not derail existing green initiatives at a city and regional level designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts.

"We are proving that while a global agreement is important, we do not need to wait for it to start building the path to a new low carbon future," said Jean Charest, premier of Quebec and co-chair of the States & Regions Alliance. "As our national counterparts meet here in Cancun to continue the negotiations, states and regions are continuing to show the leadership necessary to make practical headway on climate action."

His comments were echoed by Steve Howard, chief executive of The Climate Group, who said that city and state governments were developing "laboratories for low carbon development" that should provide international leaders with evidence that environmentally sustainable policies can help drive economic growth.

"A clean industrial revolution is not only possible, but it is well underway in the world's leading states, cities and regions," he said. "The subnational governments in our Alliance are not waiting for a global agreement but are forging agreements of their own to lead a growing global market for low carbon goods and services already estimated at $4.7 trillion."

Ministers, governors and civil servants attending the event provided an update on environmental targets announced at last year's Climate Leaders Summit with a number of regional governments also unveiling new goals for the next decade.

Most notably, São Paulo announced that it would legislate to deliver a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, making it the first region in a developing country to commit to such a deep cut in emissions.

Similarly, Upper Austria committed to generating 100 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, while the German region of Bavaria announced details of its plan to have 200,000 electric cars on the roads by 2020.

Scotland also confirmed that it would become the first nation to commit to the Billion Trees initiative, pledging to plant 100 million trees by 2015.