LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti will be among the mayors honored today at the C40 World Mayors Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, for their performance and leadership in addressing climate change.
Garcetti will be honored for implementing the Green New Deal, which he championed. Its long-term goals includes making the city's power infrastructure carbon-neutral by 2050.
Garcetti was elected Wednesday as chair of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a network of the world's largest cities committed to acting on climate change. He will take office Dec. 1.
“When it comes to climate action, no one is doing more than cities, but no one is doing enough,” Garcetti said. “We are entering a make-or-break decade for the preservation of our planet and environmental justice for every community, and I am proud to chair C40 cities at this critical moment.
“Together we will continue leading the drive to protect the world and promote a better, more equitable life for everyone living in it.”
Garcetti has been vice chair of the C40 Cities since April 2014.
“Under Mayor Garcetti's leadership, Los Angeles has successfully reduced carbon pollution while also creating green jobs and strengthening the city's economy,” said former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, president of the C40 Board of Directors and the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Climate Action.
Garcetti is scheduled to participate in a panel discussion at the summit Friday titled “The Future We Want Is Inclusive” and the Los Angeles mayor will give remarks under the talking point “We Need a Just Transition for a Thriving Planet.”
Other scheduled speakers at the summit include former Vice President Al Gore and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York. It began Wednesday and will conclude Saturday.