London Mayor Boris Johnson yesterday outlined plans to make the city “the cleanest, greenest city on earth” by the 2012 Olympics and called for commitments from other world cities at a climate change conference.
Leaders of the world’s 40 largest cities, plus 17 affiliate municipalities, are meeting in Seoul this week for a summit on combating global warming — the third to be held since 2005.
“What we should do in Seoul is agree that we will stop the endless addiction of mankind to the internal combustion engine,” said Johnson.
He told a press conference the world’s cities consume 75 percent of its energy and produce 80 percent of the emissions that cause climate change.
“The problem of our planet is an urban problem,” Johnson said, calling for “serious results” in Seoul. “I don’t want to walk away with a communique which contains nothing but warm words and hot air ... it’s important we agree some specific measures.”
He said the British capital wanted to use the Olympics “to drive the greening and the improvement of our city” and noted that London was committed to reduce carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2025.
Johnson said the key measure was addressing the problems relating to domestic and commercial buildings, which accounted for 70 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in London.
This involved retrofitting — installing lagging — in large numbers of public buildings.
Johnson proclaimed himself a “passionate cyclist” and said he would push ahead with cycle super-highways around London.
He also called for “real progress” by cities worldwide towards the electrification of municipal fleets and other vehicles.
“That’s one of the things we are hoping to achieve in Seoul,” he said.
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