The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as his special envoy for cities and climate change, in a bid to build momentum ahead of a planned UN summit meeting in September.
Mr Ban said Mr Bloomberg would assist him in “consultations with mayors and related key stakeholders, in order to raise political will and mobilise action among cities as part of his long-term strategy to advance efforts on climate change.”
Reuters Newsagency reports Mr Ban is seeking to re-energise the global climate change debate and boost the United Nations’ role.
The UN role is a major move for Mr Bloomberg, a billionaire philanthropist who left office last month.
In a statement, Mr Bloomberg said cities had emerged as a leading force in the battle against climate change.
His appointment as UN special envoy is for two years.
“Cities account for more than 70 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and two-thirds of the world’s energy use today, and their total population is projected to double by 2050,” Mr Bloomberg said.
“So the steps they take now to combat climate change will have a major impact on the future of our planet.
“Cities have shown they have the capacity and the will to meet this challenge,” he said.
United States Secretary of State John Kerry congratulated Mr Bloomberg on the appointment, saying: “I can’t think of a person better suited for this important new role.”
“Mr Bloomberg has hands-on experience confronting climate change in one of the largest cities in the world, while, at the same time, seizing the many opportunities that sustainable city management creates,” Mr Kerry said in a statement.
Reuters reports Mr Bloomberg made combating climate change a key focus during his 12 years leading the most populous city in the US.
He also advocated for national climate change legislation.
Mr Bloomberg has played a leading role in the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, an international group of mayors created in 2005 and dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The C40 group, of which Mr Bloomberg is president of the board, is to meet in Johannesburg this week.
He announced last month that New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions have dropped by 19 per cent since 2005, putting the city nearly two-thirds of the way to meeting the goal he set five years ago.
In the blueprint he launched in 2007 Mr Bloomberg set a goal to slash citywide emissions 30 per cent by 2030 through a number of initiatives, such as requiring hybrid taxi cabs, building bike lanes and retrofitting municipal buildings to make them more energy efficient.
The United Nations will host a one-day climate change summit in New York on September 23, 2014.
Many developing nations want that to be a deadline for rich countries to outline planned cuts in greenhouse gases beyond 2020 as a key step towards a global climate deal in 2015.
Last month, Mr Ban appointed former Ghana President John Kufuor and former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg as special envoys on climate change to help increase support for the September conference.
Mr Ban has long seen galvanising support for global action on climate change as key to his legacy as secretary-general, officials and diplomats say, and he is eager to restore the UNs’ relevance to the climate negotiations.
