The global dialogue on climate change is largely structured around national governments — which are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. But a network of city leaders have made the argument at the 27th U.N. Climate Change Conference, or COP 27, in Sharm-el- Sheikh, Egypt, that they are better positioned to move toward climate action.
“At the end of the day, climate change is happening at the local level, it's happening in your neighborhood and my neighborhood,” Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, who is vice chair of C40 Cities, an organization of 96 cities that account for 75% of global emissions, told Devex on the sidelines of COP 27. “We are as mayors on the front line in addressing that.”
The city leaders published a handbook during the conference “to identify the most impactful and inclusive actions to be implemented across sectors including energy, transport, buildings, waste, construction and urban planning.”
About the author
Sara Jervingsarajerving
Sara Jerving is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global health. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, VICE News, and Bloomberg News among others. Sara holds a master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she was a Lorana Sullivan fellow. She was a finalist for One World Media's Digital Media Award in 2021; a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in 2018; and she was part of a VICE News Tonight on HBO team that received an Emmy nomination in 2018. She received the Philip Greer Memorial Award from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2014.
