From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

h/t Ian Magness

Ever heard of this outfit?

https://www.c40.org/

It was founded in 2005 as C20, and has since expanded to its current network of 96 cities, including London. Its objectives are made clear:

It won’t come as any reassurance to learn that its Chair since 2021 has been Sadiq Khan, and its President is the billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

Perhaps even more worryingly is the long list of funders, who turn out to be the usual bunch of far-left donors that fund most of the green blob, such as Bloomberg, CIFF, Climate Works, Hewlett Foundation, Oak Foundation, and, not least, George Soros’ Open Society Foundations. C40 also receives taxpayer money, courtesy of the Foreign Office.

And don’t fall for claims that C40 is just a talking shop. In 2019 they published a report called  “The Future of Urban Consumption In A 1.5C World”.

It was largely written by ARUP and the University of Leeds, it goes into great detail about the sort of changes that must be made. ARUP introduced it thus:

New ways of measuring cities’ climate footprints show that C40 cities consumption-based emissions contribute to 10% of global greenhouse gases. 

This report explores how cities consumption-based emissions need to reduce to avoid a climate breakdown and focuses on six sectors – food, construction, clothing, vehicles, aviation and electronics – where leaders, businesses and the public can take action to change consumption habits, significantly cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The research sets out science-based targets for cities for GHG emissions reduction that are consistent with the 2015 Paris Agreement ambitions, and identifies key previously untapped opportunities for cities to address the impact of urban consumption whilst delivering multiple other benefits for their citizens. It also maps how urban stakeholders can work together to deliver these changes. 

The report recognises that emissions actually generated within C40 cities are small compared to those associated with goods and services consumed within cities, but generated outside. To get to their 1.5C will therefore require massive changes in consumption behaviour.

It offers some examples of how we should get there:

Their ultimate goal for 2030 included:

• 0kg of meat and dairy
• 3 new clothing items a year
• 0 private vehicles
• 1 short haul flight every three years per person
• 7 year lifetime for all electronic devices.

Quite clearly the public are not going to change their lifestyles voluntarily, just to appease Mayor Khan and his chums.

Which leads us to the question of how these targets will be enforced. After all, C40 have gone to a lot of trouble producing this report and tell us that emissions reductions are essential. They surely will not just file the report away and forget about it?

And as the C40 Executive Director makes plain, it is time for action:

Maybe it is also time for Mayor Khan to come clean with the citizens of London, and tell them what he has got in store for them.