"I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” President Donald Trump declared at the White House in Washington, DC, on June 1, 2017, after announcing he would pull the United States out of the Paris climate change agreement. Within minutes, Pittsburgh’s mayor, Bill Peduto, was responding to the president on Twitter.
“The United States joins Syria, Nicaragua & Russia in deciding not to participate with world’s Paris Agreement. It’s now up to cities to lead,” Peduto tweeted. “As the Mayor of Pittsburgh, I can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement for our people, our economy & future.”
Friction among state and substate actors is nothing new. But climate change is one issue where the role of urban leaders is growing in importance, according to Ian Klaus, a former senior adviser for global cities at the US Department of State and deputy US negotiator for Habitat III, the 2016 UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development.
In a phone interview with the Stanley Foundation in June, Klaus said the decision of hundreds of American city leaders to diverge from the president’s official stance on the Paris Agreement was a “remarkable moment in diplomacy.” But it also highlighted the necessity of other multilateral players, such as civil society and nonstate actors, to help cities implement climate action. Scores of university and business leaders also have declared their support for the Paris Agreement, along with networks such as the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, and organizations such as Bloomberg Philanthropies have pledged financial assistance.
The world's population is increasingly urban:
According to the 2016 World Cities Report from UN Habitat, by the year 2030, more than 60 percent of the world’s population will be living in urban environments.
“Some of the key global macro trends are making cities and the voice of mayors and city hall more important than ever before,” Klaus said. “As an example, if you are in the innovation economy and you’re thinking about ridesharing or apartment sharing, state governments, provincial governments, and city governments often are the regulatory keys. And so we have a shift in a lot of issues, from climate to the nature of economic growth, that I think is making cities also more important. You have this convergence of population, demographics with other trends in the economy, and security and climate.”
The relationship that citizens have with their cities also often diverges from their view of national government, Klaus said, and differs “all over the world.”
Substate diplomacy is growing:
Klaus anticipates that substate diplomacy will only grow in the coming years. In fact, US cities aren’t the only ones increasingly engaging with foreign nation-states. After President Trump announced the US departure from the Paris Agreement, California Governor Jerry Brown announced the formation of the US Climate Alliance, journeyed to China for multilateral discussions, and announced a 2018 global climate summit in San Francisco. Also, the New York Times reported that Canada has begun engaging with US cities on climate action.
“I think we’re increasingly seeing that cities and states and counties, and provinces in other countries, can take action. And, obviously, because of the pressure they are under from their own citizens, because of the moral calling to deal with an issue such as climate change, I think we’ll see more action than ever for sure,” Klaus said. “It’s a tremendous moment.”
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