Next week, on October 19-21, the triennial C40 climate action conference will be held both in person in Buenos Aires and live-streamed online. The summit will bring together mayors from across the globe as well as business professionals, campaigners, scientists, and youth leaders to “show the progress global cities have made in confronting the climate crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
C40 is a network of 97 cities that combined represent over 582 million people and around one-third of the global economy. The leaders of these cities have committed to pursuing radical climate action and will use this event to offer their insight into how we can accelerate our journey towards climate neutrality.
The @C40cities World Mayors Summit is coming up in Buenos Aires 🇦🇷Oct 19-21! As we countdown to the summit, we are excited to feature the 11 #FossilFuelTreaty endorsing cities that are part of the @C40cities network! #C40Summit ➡ https://t.co/lXu4rxFYno 🧵
— Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative (@fossiltreaty) October 8, 2022
Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, has been an active member of C40 since 2006, and was selected by the 16 mayors that comprise the network’s steering committee to host this year’s summit in light of the city’s impressive efforts to address climate change.
Buenos Aires was the first city in the world to have 100% LED street lighting, and recently demonstrated their commitment to improving our climate strategies by signing up to the C40 agreement to open up their data on clean energy generation, sustainable mobility, and waste management.
“Buenos Aires is proud of our leadership on climate action and its extraordinary benefits to our citizens and their wellbeing”
– Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, Mayor of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires’ Climate Action Plan also commits to halving carbon emissions by 2030 and striving for total climate neutral status by 2050.
The summit itself will keep sustainability at its core.
Since the event will gather leaders from across the globe, air travel – a significant contributor to climate change – is a necessary consequence. However, Buenos Aires has pledged to calculate the total aviation emissions caused by the summit and offset this quantity through a variety of projects, including reforestation and environmental conservation efforts.
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Furthermore, the event has been designed to be low-carbon and close to zero-waste. Reusable materials will be prioritised and all food served by C40 at the venue will be plant-based, ideally sourced from local and sustainable producers.
Even the venue itself, the Centro de Convenciones, was selected for its innovative, climate-conscious design.
Edgardo Minod, the architect behind the Centro de Convenciones, chose a unique underground layout with the intention of preserving the natural beauty of the area. He also incorporated rainwater collection and reuse systems in the design, as well as lighting and air conditioning that is enhanced by thermo-mechanical energy.
Architect Michael Reynolds is known for his sustainable "Earthship" buildings, including this green school in Buenos Aires.#earthship #Solarpunk pic.twitter.com/Xvb31I040C
— Earthbased.soul SOLARPUNK NOMADS (@Earthbasedsoul) August 6, 2022
The summit’s agenda includes promising conversations such as “Realising the Health Benefits of Climate Action” and “Creating Inclusive and Resilient Cities.”
These two days of meetings will work towards C40’s aim of initiating “faster, fairer, and more ambitious inclusive climate action now,” and are particularly important considering the upcoming COP27, to be held from November 6-18 in Egypt.
C40’s scheduling of their event the month ahead of this UN conference was intentional, they hope to use the summit to “demonstrate what a strong global coalition united on radical climate action can achieve,” paving the way for further progressive debates and decisions at COP27.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of Impakter.com — In the Featured Photo: Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires. Featured Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
