Niko Kyriakou

WASHINGTON, Jul 19 2005 (IPS) — Ignoring inaction at the highest levels of the U.S. government, 145 mayors across the country have formed a coalition to combat global warming and begun to reshape their cities using innovative programmes and technologies.

The mayors say they can make urban living more eco-friendly and at the same time create jobs and stimulate local economies.

The Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty calling for reductions in the greenhouse gases that accelerate climate change, took effect in February. But the United States, which makes up four percent of the world’s population and produces 22 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases, did not ratify the treaty.

The George W. Bush administration opposes Kyoto because officials argue it would raise energy prices and kill five million U.S. jobs. The administration has also raised questions about the scientific legitimacy of climate change.

The House of Representatives and Senate have also done little to stop the Earth from heating up, the mayors say.

Tired of waiting for action from federal authorities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, as the coalition is called, unanimously agreed last month to implement aspects of the protocol locally.

A total of 169 U.S. cities have now agreed to match or better the standards laid out in the Kyoto Protocol – which requires industrialised nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of six percent below 1990 levels by the year 2012 – through actions such as restoring forests, reducing urban sprawl, developing alternative energy technologies, and educating the public.

They have also agreed to pressure state and federal governments to follow Kyoto’s targets, and to push Congress to pass the bipartisan Climate Stewardship Act, which would establish a national emissions trading system.

“Mayors across America are making it clear: we’re not going to wait for the federal government to do something to prevent the production of greenhouse gases. We’re going to step up and provide the leadership at the local level, city by city,” said Greg Nickels, the mayor of Seattle.

More than half the world and 80 percent of the U.S. population live in urban areas, and cities consume 75 percent of the earth’s natural resources, according to San Francisco’s Department of Environment.

Early last week, 45 of the mayors from the coalition, including mayors from Salt Lake City, Denver and Chicago, met in Utah on the actor Robert Redford’s Sundance ranch to discuss climate change initiatives.

The meeting was organised by the U.N.-sponsored International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives and funded in part by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Executives from the British-based consultancy, the Climate Group, said at the meeting that 17 major U.S. cities had already reduced their emissions below 1990 levels and saved a total of 600 million dollars through efficiency measures.

“You must understand that tackling climate is financially a competitive advantage, not a liability,” said Steve Howard, CEO of The Climate Group.

Patrick McCrory, the mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, and head of the Republican mayors’ association, pointed out at the meeting that the coalition of mayors should be taken seriously because of their economic clout.

“We are the ones building roads, designing mass transit, buying the police cars and dump trucks and earthmovers. We’re the ones lighting up the earth when you look at those maps from space,” he said. “Together we have huge purchasing power, and if we invest wisely, that can have huge implications for the environment.”

Following the three-day gathering at Redford’s 6,000-acre ranch, former U.S. Vice Pres. Al Gore, who helped draft the Kyoto treaty, addressed the mayors in a meeting closed to the press.

But last month, in a public speech to a gathering of mayors from around the world, Gore revealed a frightening forecast on the impacts of global warming.

Already, record temperatures are melting the world’s glaciers, Gore said. Unless major action is taken, rising sea-levels could force the evacuation of low-lying cities such as Calcutta, Shanghai and New York within decades, and powerful storms, infectious diseases and dangerous heat waves could sweep the planet.

“We are witnessing a collision between our civilisation and the earth, a transformation of the relationship between our species and the planet,” he said. “Is it only terrorists that we’re worried about? Is that the only threat to the future that is worth organising to respond to?”

Gore said most scientists – and more and more corporations – agree that climate change is happening; what is lacking is the political will to act.

According to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Bush administration is spending two billion dollars on initiatives to promote clean-coal technology, hydrogen-powered vehicles, nuclear power and renewable energy.

Bush’s energy bill, which went into effect last month, calls for industry to slow emission increases, but does not demand an overall reduction.

The House version of the energy bill, which passed the Senate last month 66-29 with few changes, increases subsidies to the traditional energy industries.

Out of eight billion dollars in tax incentives, the House bill allocates 500 million dollars (6 percent) to increase energy efficiency and develop renewables.

While critics complain that funding for new projects to counter Gore’s warnings are coming too slowly, cities like Seattle are moving ahead without them, seeking to turn their cities into prototypes of an environmental enlightenment.

In Utah last week, Seattle Mayor Nickels, out of 150 other mayors, won the “2005 City Livability Award” for improving his city’s quality of life through the Seattle Climate Protection Initiative.

Key components of Nickels’ Initiative, which lays out a long-term vision of growth based on environmental values, include transportation initiatives such as increased development of monorail, light rail, streetcars and bike paths.

Seattle, which has already been a national leader in recycling, water conservation and energy efficiency, is also offering incentives to individuals who carpool or sell their second car, including cash, or limited free use of 130 shared, city-owned cars.

Under Nickels’ plan, Seattle is also increasing the number of hybrid gas-electric, ultra-low sulfur diesel and bio-diesel vehicles in the city’s fleet.

The city is restoring 2,500 acres of urban forest, building municipal facilities following sustainable building standards, and converting the municipally owned electric utility, Seattle City Light, to a zero net greenhouse gas emitter.

Seattle’s Public Utilities department, with the help of researchers from the University of Washington, is studying nearby watersheds to measure local effects of global warming so as to incorporate climate change information into the city’s long-range water supply planning.

The city also has hosted workshops on climate change for government officials and appointed a commission to identify how to best reduce global warming pollution community-wide.

“Thanks to these programmes, Seattle has a cleaner source of electricity, sustainable buildings, and new economic opportunities,” Nickels said after accepting the award. “We’re proud to serve as an example to other cities that you don’t have to make a choice between your environment and your economy. You can improve both.”

Seattle cut greenhouse gas emissions by 48 percent between 1990 and 2000, according to the city’s Office of Sustainability and Environment.

What the U.S. Conference of Mayors does domestically, the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign does internationally, also with the support of the U.N.-sponsored International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives.

Some 650 local governments have joined the global campaign, including in Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, Latin America, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the United States.