UN-Habitat launches Guiding Principles

As the world heads to a new climate agreement, parties and participants at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris highlighted the role of cities as the place where the struggle to mitigate climate change will be either won or lost. Cities play a critical role in emissions, thus they must also become key […]

As the world heads to a new climate agreement, parties and participants at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris highlighted the role of cities as the place where the struggle to mitigate climate change will be either won or lost.
Cities play a critical role in emissions, thus they must also become key actors in global efforts to bring down greenhouse gas emissions.
With this sense of urgency, UN-Habitat launched the ‘Guiding Principles for City Climate Action Planning’ at the Climate Change Conference COP-21 in Paris.
The principles establish benchmarks for action planning in cities, based on international evidence and best-practices.
“The new UN-Habitat Guide is all about orienting cities towards concrete, comprehensive climate action. The principles are designed as an instrument for cities to tangibly address climate change and provide effective city-level climate action planning tools” stated Raf Tuts, Coordinator of the Urban Planning and Design Branch of UN-Habitat at the launch session.
Representing the view of cities, the Mayor of La Paz, Luis A. Revilla H. expressed that “efficient climate change planning has to include local authorities in decision making through strengthening the vertical integration”.