Dozens of Mayors Call for ‘Global Green New Deal’

Jamie Margolin, Founder of Zero Hour, Eric Garcetti, mayor of Los Angeles and Anne Hidalgo
LISELOTTE SABROE/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

Dozens of mayors and activists involved in the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group formally called for a “Global Green New Deal” on Wednesday.

The group — under the leadership of the chair, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, and chair-elect, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti — announced its support for the Green New Deal on a worldwide scale, arguing that it is necessary to “drive an urgent, fundamental and irreversible transfer of global resources away from fossil fuels and into action that averts the climate emergency.”

The group boasted of “94 climate leader cities” recognizing the “global climate emergency.”

Per the release:

The message was issued by city leaders attending the C40 World Mayors Summit in Copenhagen. Their call came in response to intergovernmental action being blocked by a minority of very powerful, science-denying governments, representing the interests of the fossil-fuel industry.

Through the Global Green New Deal, cities have reaffirmed their commitment to protecting our environment, strengthening our economy, and building a more equitable future by cutting emissions from the sectors most responsible for the climate crisis — transportation, buildings, industry, and waste — to keep global heating below the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement.

The city leaders called to cut global emissions by 50 percent by 2030, an effort the United States has already led the charge on despite a lack of participation in the Paris Agreement.

Carbon emissions from energy usage from the U.S. are at the lowest levels since 1992, as Breitbart News’s entertainment editor and author of 50 Things They Don’t Want You to Know, Jermone Hudson, told Fox & Friends last month.

Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report last year, which indicated that greenhouse gas emissions decreased during Trump’s first year in office.

As Breitbart News reported:

The EPA report revealed that total greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 2.7 percent from 2016 to 2017.

“Thanks to President Trump’s regulatory reform agenda, the economy is booming, energy production is surging, and we are reducing greenhouse gas emissions from major industrial sources,” EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement.

“These achievements flow largely from technological breakthroughs in the private sector, not the heavy hand of government. The Trump Administration has proven that federal regulations are not necessary to drive CO2 reductions,” Wheeler continued. “While many around the world are talking about reducing greenhouse gases, the U.S. continues to deliver, and today’s report is further evidence of our action-oriented approach.”

“As mayors our first priority is to protect the safety of our citizens,” Hidago said“It will soon be four years since the Paris Agreement was signed in our city.”

“World leaders met in New York just last month and once again failed to agree anything close to the level of action necessary to stop the climate crisis,” she continued, decrying their “ineptitude” and proclaiming that it “directly threatens all people around the globe as time keeps running against us.”

“There is no other solution but a Global Green New Deal to be the pivotal instrument to win this race against the clock. All decision-makers must take responsibility in making it a reality,” she added.

“When it comes to climate action, no one is doing more than cities, but no one is doing enough,” Garcetti concurred.

“We are entering a make-or-break decade for the preservation of our planet and environmental justice for every community — and I am proud to lead C40 cities at this critical moment,” he said.

“Together we will continue leading the drive to protect the world and promote a better, more equitable life for everyone living in it,” he added.

Freshman “Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also released a statement, praising the coalition and calling climate change “our greatest threat.”

“I am inspired by this coalition and the commitments made for a global Green New Deal,” she said. “If we work to join forces globally, we will be able to defeat our greatest threat and realize our greatest opportunity.”

“Federal govs are failing to act on the climate crisis,” she followed up in a tweet. “We can’t wait for others to lead”:

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