(27 March 2015) – Representatives of 30 cities gathered in Paris yesterday to sign declaration that will also commit them to use their €10bn purchasing power to buy eco-friendly.
The gathering came eight months before Paris hosts the United Nations climate change conference, known as COP21, aimed at achieving a binding, universal and international agreement on climate for the first time in more than 20 years of UN negotiations.
In a joint statement signed by 26 European mayors, city representatives said they hoped combining forces to favour green and low-carbon industries for procurement contracts would have a “leverage effect on the private sector that very often aligns its own requirements with the public sector”.
The summit came a week after Paris was declared the most polluted city on the planet after a choking cloud almost obscured its most symbolic monuments including the Eiffel Tower and left the city of light looking more like the capital of smog. (The Guardian)