September 2, 2016
Mayor John Tory and leaders from 30 of the world’s major cities have joined together to call on G20 leaders representing 20 of the world's largest economies to act faster in tackling climate change. In a joint letter issued days before the G20 leaders will meet in Hangzhou, China, the call puts pressure on the major nations of the world to deliver on the promises of the Paris Agreement, which was signed by 180 countries in December 2015.
“I stand with the other mayors to call on heads of state to make the Paris Agreement a reality," said Mayor Tory. "Toronto has already achieved a 24 per cent reduction since 1990 in its greenhouse gas emissions. I believe the best way for us to honour our commitments is to build transit, repair and retrofit TCHC housing and invest in our infrastructure to help create a more livable, sustainable city. We will bring forward an updated climate action plan later this year through our TransformTO initiative to help ensure that we continue to deliver significant carbon reductions."
The letter to G20 leaders notes that global greenhouse gas emissions need to peak by 2020 in order to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a key goal of the Paris Agreement. The letter also says that achieving the target for reduced emissions is one of the greatest political, economic and practical challenge for leaders at every level, and says the mayors of the megacities of the world will be “great allies in this task."
Mayor Tory is committed to taking action on climate change in Toronto and internationally through influential climate organizations, such as the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40). Toronto is a member of C40, a network of more than 85 large cities committed to tackling climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating resilient, healthy and low carbon cities.
More information about the City's TransformTO: Climate action for a healthy, equitable, prosperous Toronto initiative is available at http//:www.toronto.ca/transformto.
Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit
http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us @TorontoComms.
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