The science is clear: we have to act now to prevent catastrophic climate change…and cities offer a unique opportunity to limit global temperature rise. These are some of the key findings of the Summary for Urban Policymakers of the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 ° C, launched at the COP24 climate negotiations in Poland.

The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy announced today a new partnership with Google and Bloomberg Philanthropies. The partnership channels Google’s proprietary data and technological capabilities through GCoM’s global network of cities and city networks together with Bloomberg Philanthropies’ leadership on cities and climate change to drive global action at the local level. These efforts will provide cities with critical information about their environmental data and develop new tools that will empower cities to access new city-level climate data, yield significant cost and time savings, and drive ambition to meet the Paris Agreement.

Mayors of the world’s greatest cities have reaffirmed their commitment to delivering on the highest ambitions of the Paris Agreement. Through a series of bold pledges, unveiled at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, cities are committing to the specific climate action and policies needed to keep global temperature rise to below 1.5℃.

The Global Climate City Challenge launched in San Francisco will address key technical and financing barriers to strengthen investment in green projects and programmes essential to improve resilience to a changing climate in cities home to millions of people.

The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy announced that the collective impact of current commitments made by cities and local governments around the world have already exceeded 1/3 of global city potential in 2030[1]. To ensure these commitments are met, GCoM is launching groundbreaking measures and tools on data management that will help cities tackling climate change, bringing them closer to reaching the Paris Agreement goals.

Billions of people in thousands of cities around the world will be at risk from climate-related heatwaves, drought, flooding, food shortages, blackouts and social inequality by mid-century without bold and urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, cities around the world are delivering bold climate solutions to avert these outcomes and create a healthier, safer, more equal and prosperous future for all urban citizens.