The Third Global City

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The third GLOBAL CITY, the international forum for urban decision-makers, is putting urban CO2 emissions at the centre of its programme. This year's focus is on the issues of climate change and energy. Different scenarios for reducing greenhouse gases will be presented to urban managers and their partners gathered at GLOBAL CITY in Lyon, France from May 14 to 16, 2007. These strategies will be examined via conferences with key personalities from the sector, panels of local authority officials and experts, interactive sessions comparing innovative urban projects and best practice-sharing workshops.

To identify the exact role that cities can play in this area, there will be two international panels drawing on the expertise of Mayors of such cities as Breda (Netherlands), San Sebastian (Spain), Budapest (Hungary), Lyon (France), Toronto (Canada) and Santa Monica (California):

1. Reducing the carbon footprint: from awareness to action. How can we act in urban areas which host half the world's population and are responsible for nearly 80% of CO2 emissions without affecting quality of life for citizens?

2. Low carbon city: from local initiatives to large scale action. How can exemplary local initiatives aimed at reducing CO2 emissions be translated into a more global, city-scale policy involving city hall, citizens, companies, and national and regional authorities?

The analyses developed during these panels will find concrete illustrations in the 30 or so comparative sessions offered at GLOBAL CITY. Several cities will talk about their urban challenges, and give detailed information on their solutions, so that the audience can apply them to their own policies.

Two French cities will compare their contribution to the 'Climate Plan' adopted by the French Ministry for Ecology and Sustainable Development in July 2004 to encourage nation-wide local authorities to reduce greenhouse emissions. Chalon-sur-Saône, which has already been mobilising stakeholders since 2002, will demonstrate the effectiveness of its global action, combining High Environmental Quality building criteria, an energy optimisation policy, raising the awareness of its municipal departments about ecological management, and educating its inhabitants.

Moving London towards a sustainable low carbon city. This session will showcase the action plan for reducing CO2 emissions in the British capital by 60% by 2025. To complete the panorama, a special workshop will explore the public-private 'London ESCO' partnership signed between the London Climate Change Agency and EDF Energy to encompass all aspects of the city's economy, from property building and energy products and services to handling water and waste, and organising transport.

Green neighbourhoods. This session will examine the new sustainable neighbourhoods developed along the lines of such French cities as Angers, Dunkerque and Bordeaux, which were amongst the earliest exponents of sustainable development and which will be represented at the forum this year. For example, Narbonne, whose mayor will be attending GLOBAL CITY, will explain the various elements that serve its key objective of 'Zero CO2 production' in terms of energy, waste, and transport, raising awareness of everyday behaviour from eco-citizens. A workshop, led by the city's director of sustainable development, will show in detail the cogeneration system set up with a private partner using the gasification of wood to supply homes with both electricity and heating.

On the 'Village Associations' stand in the forum's exhibition area, two officials from the French association 4D (Dossiers et Débats pour le Développement Durable – a citizen's network that tracks the commitment of France and UN Member States following the Rio Summit) will help visitors assess the database of 21 local agendas, which schedule nation-wide practices in sustainable development. This database contains 136 separate experiences and contains extremely useful information on the history of projects, the approach and internal organisation of the authorities that have made commitments, together with the partnerships, participation processes and obstacles encountered.

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