Insights from the Urban “Oscars”
It had all the trappings of a major awards ceremony; a “green carpet” (of actual grass), a scrum of paparazzi chasing the celebrities (in this case, the mayors) entering the building, a laser light show, and a striking (and heavy) trophy for the award winners.
The City Climate Leadership Awards held at the Siemens Crystal building in London on Thursday, September 4th, brought together a “who’s who” of urban experts to recognize cities leading the way in urban climate change governance and performance. Sponsored by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and Siemens, the ten award winners were:
- Bogota’s Transmilenio bus rapid transit system
- Copenhagen’s plan to make the entire city carbon neutral by 2025
- Melbourne’s energy efficient buildings finance initiative
- Mexico City’s ProAire program, which has dramatically improved local air quality
- Munich’s 100% Green Power program
- New York City’s Climate Adaptation and Resilience strategy
- Rio de Janeiro’s Morar Carioca Urban Revitalization strategy
- San Francisco’s Zero Waste program
- Singapore’s Intelligent Transport system
- Tokyo’s cap & trade scheme