World Mayors gather in Buenos Aires to announce creation of 50 million good green jobs by 2030

City leaders from around the world came together this month in Buenos Aires, Argentina for the C40 Cities World Mayors Summit, the triennial gathering of the C40 network of Mayors committed to tackling climate change through united global action. During the summit, Mayors of the world’s largest cities announced policies to achieve goal 13: Climate Action and Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, through the creation of 50 million good green jobs.

The three day summit represented the largest ever gathering of global Mayors who, alongside business leaders, philanthropists, youth activists and scientists, sought to create solutions to the interlinked crises of climate change and inequality. Attendees heard from a diverse range of speakers, with notable addresses from Sir David King (available to watch here), Hilda Flavia Nakabuye (here), London Mayor Sadiq Khan (here), and Zainab Waheed (here).

Founded in 2006, C40 is a network of Mayors representing almost one hundred world-leading cities, collaborating together to deliver urgent action to tackle the climate crisis. Chaired by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, the network today represents more than 700 million people and around one quarter of the global economy. Through international cooperation and a science-based approach, the network aims to limit global heating to 1.5°C, while building healthy, equitable and resilient urban communities.

The organisation is an excellent example of the power local leaders have when united in action to affect global change. Currently, three quarters of its member cities are outperforming the rest of their respective nation states in terms of emissions reductions, with a 5% reduction in air pollution across its cities this year.

Getting the World’s To-Do List done

Building on the theme of this year’s Global Goals moment: local action for global impact, C40 partnered with Project Everyone to bring the World’s To-Do List campaign to life at the summit. 

Buenos Aires joined cities around the world, including Freetown and Bogota, in featuring a physical sticky note activation, reminding city leaders to get the World’s To-Do List done. The activation placed particular focus on the key themes of the summit: ensuring wellbeing for all, tackling the climate crisis, financing resilient cities, and creating good green jobs for all.

Mayors from around the world stopped by the enormous sticky notes to show their support for the Global Goals, including C40 Chair Sadiq Khan, Mayor Elizabeth Sackey of Accra, Ghana, Mayor Sophie Hastrop Andersen of Copenhagen, Denmark, Mayor Atiqul Islam of Dhaka North, Bangladesh, Mayor Anne Hidalgo of Paris, France, and Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, USA.

During the event’s closing plenary, attendees were also screened a special version of the campaign film The World’s To-Do List: We Need Urgent Action, with an ending speaking to C40 Mayors.

Additionally, in an address to the summit, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the vital role city leaders must play in achieving the Goals. Guterres described the leadership of the world’s cities as ‘essential’ to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals against the challenging backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and cascading food, energy and cost-of-living crises.

Watch the Secretary-General’s full address (here).

50 Million new good green jobs

One of the key announcements to come out of the summit was a commitment to drive the creation of 50 million good green jobs by 2030. 

In a landmark collaboration led by C40 Chair Sadiq Khan, scores of Mayors set out actions they are taking to create good green jobs – from ensuring homes and workplaces are energy-efficient to modernising public transport systems.

Research by C40 shows that these jobs will be required to halve their cities’ emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. The research goes on to show that the plan will create 30% more jobs than continuing with the ‘business-as-usual’ approach, reduce air pollution by up to 30%, and deliver $280 billion in health-related economic benefits to the network’s cities.

The announcement exemplifies both the power local leaders have to implement climate policy, and the interconnectedness of the issues faced by megacities. Through united action, C40 Mayors will not only reduce their greenhouse gas emissions but improve health and well-being and stimulate good job creation, working at the intersection of goals 3, 8, 11 and 13.

Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “Investing in the jobs and skills of the future will help us to tackle inequality as we tackle the climate crisis. I’m so proud to stand united in action with my fellow C40 city mayors to drive the creation of 50 million good, green jobs by the end of this decade. London will lead by example as we double the size of our green economy and establish good, green jobs accessible within communities that need them most. There is no time to waste. The best time to act on good, green jobs was yesterday, the next best time is today.”

London alone has committed to double the size of its green economy to £100 billion by 2030, stimulating job growth in the sector.

A platform for youth activists

The summit aimed to amplify the voices of youth climate leaders, particularly from the global south and areas most affected by climate change. 30 international youth climate leaders and 30 local leaders from Argentina made up a youth delegation to the summit, with representatives from groups including Fridays for Future, Choked Up, YOUNGO, Green Africa Youth Organisation, and Extinction Rebellion.

Mayor of Bogotá and C40 Vice Chair for Youth Engagement Claudia López announced plans to further empower youth climate leaders through the creation of the C40 Global Youth City Climate Council Network, which aims to give young people more influence in local decision-making.

This network will serve to support the creation of new city-youth climate councils, strengthen existing councils, and connect councils across C40 cities to promote collaboration and share best practices.

Looking towards COP27

C40 Chair Sadiq Khan has already met his pledge of directing two thirds of C40’s budget to support climate action and a green recovery in global south cities. Looking towards COP27, C40 announced plans to build on this record of providing finance and technical support to cities in the global south.

At the close of the summit, the C40 Cities Finance Facility (CFF), in partnership with the German Agency for International Cooperation, announced a further 34 projects around the world, expected to leverage over $1 billion of climate finance by the time they are implemented. While significant, the network warns that there is still a gap between the finance available for urban climate action and the finance required.

As an emphasis is placed this year on the role local leaders play in tackling climate change, inequality and poverty, it is clearer now more than ever that networks of local leaders such as the C40 are instrumental in working towards the 2030 agenda.

As we head to Sharm El Sheikh for COP27, leaders of the world’s cities’ message is clear: Where they have led, nations must now follow. Or as the Mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski simply put it: “Show us the money.”

You can watch key moments from the summit on C40 Cities’ Youtube Channel

For more information about C40 Cities, visit their website www.c40.org