United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on 31 January 2014 the appointment of Michael Bloomberg of the United States as his Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on 31 January 2014 the appointment of Michael Bloomberg of the United States as his Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change. His new role is to assist the Secretary-General in his consultations with mayors and related key stakeholders in order to raise political will and mobilize action among cities as part of the Secretary-General’s long-term strategy to advance efforts on climate change. This includes bringing concrete solutions to the 2014 Climate Summit that the UN Secretary-General will host in New York on 23 September.

ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability welcomes this decision as an important opportunity to increase momentum of the engagement with local and subnational governments in the global efforts on climate change.

“Partnerships at all levels of government are essential elements for the success of the Paris 2015 Climate Outcomes – to scale-up rapid actions now, up-to, and beyond 2020. We look forward to collaborating on this with the UN Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change,” says Gino Van Begin, Secretary General of ICLEI.

In 2007 in Bali and in 2009 in Copenhagen, ICLEI nominated Bloomberg to address and interact with the UNFCCC delegations, pursuant to his leadership in climate action in New York, in the US and internationally. Since then, both global climate negotiations and the actions of local and subnational governments through the Local Government Climate Roadmap have advanced significantly: recognition of local and subnational governments as “governmental stakeholders” in Cancun, the Mexico City Pact, the Durban Adaptation Charter, the carbonn Cities Climate Registry, the Global Protocol on Community-scale GHG Emissions, the creation of the “Friends of Cities” at the UNFCCC, and recent outcomes in Warsaw including the inaugural Mayoral-Ministerial Dialogue and the high-level segment “Cities Day”.

“We commit to work with Mr. Bloomberg to capitalize on the achievements of these ongoing processes so that cities are enabled to accelerate the global transformation towards a low-carbon, climate-resilient world,” adds Gino Van Begin.

For more information:

Visit  www.iclei.org/climate-roadmap and www.unfccc.int 

Read the official UN announcement at www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2014/sga1453.doc.htm