Mayors pledge coordinated climate action ahead of UN conference in Brazil

Source: The Independent

Monday 03 November 2025 14:55 EST


Just days ahead of the U.N. climate conference to be held in Brazil, a group of 300 mayors gathered Monday in Rio de Janeiro to pledge coordinated climate action and address rising heat that is hurting many of their residents. The summit was organized by C40, a network of mayors from big cities that has pushed to be included in decisions on how to combat global warming and adapt to its effects.

Selwyn Hart, the U.N. special adviser and assistant secretary-general for climate change, said at the opening that mayors are on the front lines of the climate crisis. “In the midst of all the geopolitical tensions and divisions, it is truly amazing and inspirational to see what is happening in this room and on the ground in your cities,” Hart said, adding that local leaders are needed “more than ever” as the world enters the second decade of implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The Paris Agreement aims to keep average global temperature from rising beyond 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees), and ideally limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), compared to the 1850s. To do that, the agreement says nations must slash planet-warming pollution that results when coal, oil and gas are burned.

Ana Toni, Brazil’s climate change chief and CEO of COP30, said meeting those goals would only be possible by engaging mayors. “It is you, mayors, who have to make very hard decisions in daily life, together with people,” Toni said.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/brazil-sao-paulo-rio-de-janeiro-sadiq-khan-freetown-b2857782.html