Attention. Ask the mayors that are in the room to please be seated and at the table. Others please feel free to sit in chairs along the wall. Were going to go ahead and get started so we can make an attempt to stay on schedule. Welcome, everyone, wish you good morning to the special climate secti section. The staff gave it the title. Todays leadership confronting tomorrows challenges. Ill talk more about that soon. I am jim brainard. Im the mayor of carmel, indiana, and cochair of the Energy Independence and Climate Protection Task force. I want to introduce my colleague and fellow cochair, san jose mayor sam liccardo in just a few moments. Let me ask all the mayors who are present here this morning to introduce yourselves that are speakers and others will know who is participating. Start with greg stanton. Good morning. Im greg stanton, mayor of phoenix, i chair the mayors Conference Energy committee. Good morning. My name is Javier Gonzalez. Im the mayor of the city of santa fe, and i chair the alliance between the u. S. Comforts of mayors and c 2es. Good morning. My name is david miller. Im the north american regional director of the c40 Climate Leadership Group and former mayor of the city of toronto in canada. Im kim glas, the executive director of the bluegreen alliance, a coalition of some of the Largest Labor unions and environmental groups here in the United States. Good morning, im Salt Lake City mayor Jackie Biskupski and i am vice chair, cochair with Javier Gonzalez. Mike summers, the suburb of cleveland mayor. Good morning, robert kennedy, villager freeport mayor, new york. Justin wi del. Good morning and aloha, kurt caldwell, mayor of honolulu. Good morning. Im mayor of a town just north of the capital city. Im the mayor of edmonton, canada and chairman of the big cities caucus. Paul dyster, mayor of niagara falls, new york, and chair of an organization founded by david miller and the late richard daly of chicago. Consisting of 131 cities working on among other things Environmental Issues. Tim keller, brand new mayor of albuquerque, new mexico. Rob rene, mayor of los gatos, just west of san jose. Ethan berkridge. Madeline ohare, mayor of knoxville, tennessee. Good morning, mayor of lancaster, pennsylvania. Craig cates, key west, florida. Ted winter, mayor of santa monica, california. Tom butt, richmond, california. Susanne seitinger with phillips lighting. Im mayor in germany and first Vice President of local governments for sustainability. The mayor of des moines, iowa. Jon mitchell, mayor of new bedford, massachusetts, and chair of the Energy Committee. I thank everyone for being here. Our work today is important. Id like to turn now to my cochair, mayor liccardo, for some brief comments. Thank you, mayor. Its an honor to be with all of you. Of course as mayors, we recognize increasingly in a nation in which we have seen withdrawal from the paris accords, weve seen a congress that is not terribly interested in asserting leadership in Climate Change, that its really up to all of us in our open communities to see how we can lead. Each of us, i think, are doing important work and its important for all of us to listen and learn from each other so i look forward to these opportunities. In the city of san jose we believe strongly in stealing others good ideas. Weve been working on a Community ChoiceEnergy Program and other parts of our city our state, rather, we have happily stolen that idea and will be launching Community Choice energy in just a few months to allow businesses and residents to choose the source of their electricity. Weve seen in other jurisdictions where that is vastly increasing the use of renewables and we think thats going to enable us to continue to gain transactions. We are honored to be identified as the number one ranking city in the country meeting the u. N. Sustainable Development Goals last year. We think if we continue to Learn Together collectively, well be able to move this country together as mayors and i look forward to learning from all of you. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. I just want to comment briefly on some of the folks that are here today. As i look around this table, there are so many people who have been so involved for so long. I look over at dave miller, former mayor of toronto. We met dave years ago at Robert Redfords climate meeting out at sundance in utah. I look over at the friends from canada that are here. Our friend, the mayor of bonn, who i just had the good fortune of meeting. The subject is going to take this challenge is going to take Cooperation Among people from all over the world. And seeing mayors from all thethese and other organizations representing people all over the world is very encouraging. Rarely do we talk about partisanship at these meetings, but i want to step back for a minute and do that. I think most of the mayors know that all of the task forces here at our conference are chaired by a republican and a democrat. In the case of this task force, im the republican. I had the good fortune of serving on president obamas task force on climate and resilience before he left office and representing the United States, part of our speakers bureau, state Department Speakers bureau in india and germany prior to the Paris Agreement. I have been fairly outspoken since the advent of the current administration. A lot of the people that i met in germany and india and other places have reconnected and said whats happened to the republicans . And i point out to them that i think this is a passing phenomen phenomenon. To the other republican mayors in the room, think about this. It was Teddy Roosevelt who was a republican. It was Ike Eisenhower who set aside the arctic reserve. He was a republican. It was Richard Nixon who signed the laws that put our federal First Time Ever we had any federal environmental laws, put the epa into existence as well as the endangered species act, the clean water act, the Migratory Bird act and dozens more. It was ronald reagan, another republican, who went to montreal signing the protocol dealing for the ozone hole. So theres this history in our republic of nonpartisanship when it comes to the environment. And i want to say to the other republicans in particular in this room that given the inaction of one part of our government, and i pointed out to many of the folks from other countries, you know, the federal government often speaks for our country, but its only one part of our government. Our government is divided into parts, federal, state and local. And if you talk to republican mayors as well as democrat mayors across the country, almost every one of them is committed to meeting the goals that we committed to in paris. And given that mayors represent the vast, vast majority of the u. S. Population, i suggest that mayors without any help from the federal government, hopefully well get it at some point, but without any help can make certain the United States meets their goals. So with that, i think theres a special responsibility that falls to people in the Republican Party right now to get out and explain that when it comes down to the local level, our constituents dont care which party we represent, they care about getting the job done. They see the floods, they see the changes in weather, they see all the impacts that weather changes caused by Climate Change and want us to do something. So thank you for that bit of discussion about partisanship. I think its important that we have that discussion here at the conference in an attempt to move forward. At this time id like to call first on phoenix mayor greg stanton, the chairman of the conference of environmental standing committee, the lead committee on Climate Policy for our organization. Mayor stanton will be the first of three presenters who will be discussing our various conference priorities that are relevant to our climate work. Thank you very much, mayor brainard. I appreciate that introduction. I do want to say ive had a chance to share the stage with him not just here at the mayors conference but on various National Conferences and he has spoken out always with courage and conviction on this important issue, making the case to Business Leaders about why this is important bipartisan issue and so much success in your own cities, some great programs that i admire very much. Im proud to sit here with my fellow mayors. I want to thank each and every one of them for being here and allowing me the opportunity to provide a quick update on Climate Change issues, including of course the important issue of the paris accords, the Clean Power Plan and more. Now more than ever it is americas mayors who are leading the way on Climate Change and reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions. Weve done that Work Together. As a collective group we have passed policies and made commitments to the u. S. Conference of mayors to do our part since at least 2005. Weve all done it individually in our own cities showing the way through our leadership that we can meet these important and essential goals. The truth is that what we are doing in cities is becoming even more important. Thats because last june President Trump made the shortsighted decision to withdraw the United States from the paris climate accords. Which as you know is a monumental global agreement in which every nation voluntarily agreed to reduce its Greenhouse Gas emissions. If the u. S. Withdrawal becomes complete, we will become one of the only nations in the world not to participate. That is a total abdication of leadership. But its important for us to keep in mind that just because the United States at the federal level may withdraw from the agreement does not mean that we as americas and the worlds cities cannot meet the goals that the Obama Administration set out. We can still do our part. Remember, our countrys commitment was to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 from 2005 levels by 2025. We are already on our way to getting there. Because of the leadership of so many people in this room as well as other mayors, governors and the business community, weve already reduced Greenhouse Gas emissions by 12 . And i really want to highlight the last group i mentioned here, the business community. Businesses have partnered with my city, and i know with many of yours, to adopt smart policies because learning because theyre learning that becoming more sustainable helps their bottom line. In fact, one of our partners, the center for climate and Energy Solutions, believes that all the commitments that cities and businesses have made, we can actually get close to the 26 to 28 reduction goal that was set out in the paris accord. But its not all good news. The center for climate and Energy Solutions also warns that if the federal government reverses course on its news policies, including the Clean Power Plan, meeting those goals will be in serious jeopardy. Thats because under the plan each of our states is required to develop plans for new and existing Power Generators to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions. Without a doubt, the result would be substantial reductions across the country. As you know, the implementation of the Clean Power Plan was delayed by the courts and now the new epa leadership is in the process of asking the courts to continue the court stay. The epa is asking for a stay as it is simultaneously trying to withdraw the Clean Power Plan rule as well as rewrite it. Comments regarding the cpp withdrawal have been extended until april 26, while comments regarding the potential future rule making to limit Greenhouse Gas emissions from existing power plants are due very soon, february 26. Our conference of mayors has been supporting the epas role in curtailing Greenhouse Gas emissions since the beginning when we filed an amicus brief for massachusetts versus epa. We have continued to submit additional briefs and comments each time this issue has come up. I encourage each of the mayors and leaders and Business Leaders in this room to weigh in on these important issues with comments of your own. Now, theres a lot of uncertainty about federal policy in the future, but one thing we know we can do is create real change at our level, at the city level across the United States, and thats why im excited where were having this meeting here today with all of the various important committees from the u. S. Conference of mayors that touch Climate Change. Im excited about the past, current and future leadership of this organization. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Lets hold questions until we hear from all three speakers. Mayor jon mitchell leads americas First Energy Capital new bedford. It was whale oil originally. Im not suggesting we go back to whaling. Lets just get that out of the way. Its renewable. He chairs our Energy Committee and held a mayors summit this fall in our city. It gives me great pleasure to introduce mayor jon mitchell. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Thank you, and mayor liccardo for your leadership of this task force. Your work is as timely as ever and i want to thank all the mayors for the work in their cities and leading our world, our country to a cleaner, Brighter Future for all of our residents. So i want to just give a quick update on what were doing in the Energy Committee to advance some of the things that weve been talking about and to home in specifically on one industry that is emerging now that will play a big part in those efforts. Over on the Energy Committee we held a summit in new bedford in september to talk turkey about our goals, to talk about what we would like to see emerge from congress in the years ahead in the way of Energy Policy in both either in an energy bill or infrastructure bill or both. And so we spent about a day and a half hashing that out and continued that work yesterday in our committee. And what emerged in september is something that tom cochran dubbed the new bedford principles. That was of course a title that i fully embraced and told everybody go eadvantagvangelize. Its a set of policy goals that we hope will reinforce the work that mayors across the country have been doing the last ten years in this space. To diversify our sources of Renewable Energy, to experiment, to do things in our cities in the way of Energy Generation that fit the needs of our cities specifically but advance more generally the overall goal of getting to 100 renewables nationally, which is something virtually everybody every mayor in america has embraced either informally or formally through some of the initiatives that weve had here. Were talking specifically about advancing embracing programs that have worked in the past, like the Energy Block Grant program that works so well in so many cities and everybody has every city has some big win that they can point to that was supported by that program. In addition we do want in view of the natural disasters that our country had last year, there is there is a lot of work to do in stabilizing the grid making, making it more resilient and doing it with renewable sources. We believe strongly that congress has a role to play in that in supporting those efforts and were taking up the conversation now with folks on the hill as well as the administration to think hard about how that might work. One thing i just wanted to add and ive been asked to taub a little bit about this because its going to be very relevant in our efforts to getting to 100 is the emergence of the offshore wind industry in the United States, which is going to be a big deal in the years ahead. Right now there are some 84 utility scale offshore wind farms in northern europe, and there are zero in the United States. In europe, its an industry that has been maturing for the last 25 years. It is an industry that employs well over that supports well over 50,000 direct jobs in germany and the uk. In denmark and other places, and its powering millions of homes. Its all coming to the United States. There are five windmills, offshore windmills, the first in the country right off of the coast of rhode island that power block island, rhode island. But in the years ahead, states like rhode island, again, but also massachusetts, new jersey and new york and really maryland, all the way down the eastern seaboard are jumping in as well as the likes of honolulu, mayor caldwell or i should say hawaii. The gulf, the great lakes around cleveland and many other places that are within view of major bodies of water. And the reason for that is this, the technology has evolved, has improved very rapidly in the few years such that it is foreseeable in the years to come that offshore wind will be cost competitive with fossil fuelgenerated sources of electricity. And it can scale up in such a huge way that it will have an impact, we believe, in the United States first on the eastern seaboard and again going all around our coast. So and so mayors have a role to play in that. It all happens out at sea, but it is deployed from places on land, namely ports and cities and having mayors get up to speed more on how they can serve the advance of that industry, the development of that industry i think will be an important topic for not just this task force, mr. Chairman, but all of our committees to talk about in the years ahead because its it is to my mind a way for us to achieve our goals. So well be talking about it more as things emerge. Theres a lot more detail to layer on to what i just said but i really wanted to raise it so everybody starts to become sensitized to whats happening. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mayor mitchell. Our final speaker on this topic is the mayor of santa fe, new mexico, one of the original sustainable cities, beautiful city, i had the fortune of being there for a conference earlier this year. Mayor Javier Gonzalez is chair of the alliance for Sustainable Future. The alliance is a partnership between the conference of mayors and the center for Climate Energy solutions that was first established to advance the clean power rule developed under the last administration. Mayor. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you for your leadership. Good morning, everybody. On behalf of myself and our vice chair, Salt Lake City mayor Jackie Biskupski, i want to brief you on what our group, the alliance for a Sustainable Future has been doing and encourage you to participate with our efforts. The alliance for Sustainable Future is a joint effort between the u. S. Conference of mayors and the center for Climate Energy solutions. Im pleased that were joined by the president of c2es former deputy administrator bob pershepski and amy bailey. Im sorry, bob, ill get it. Ill move on. Let me just say bob. All right. The Alliance Brings together mayors and businesses to develop ways we can Work Together to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions and promote sustain ability. In the year and a half that weve been around, weve held two events at nyu for climate week. We have published two surveys of local government Climate Change actions and published a best practice report. In our survey we asked cities about their policies and programs regarding green buildings, both new and existing, green vehicle purchases and city commitment to invest in low Carbon Energy sources. We took the detailed responses in the survey and today were making them available on the conference and the alliances website. Every mayor and city staff can now find out what other large, medium and small cities are doing in these areas along with details about the city policies and programs. We also published a best practice report featuring six case studies that provide indepth information and can serve as a howto manual for any city who may woman to rant to r that program. That report is right in front of you. Some programs include boston mayors marty walshs renew boston trust which aims to make as many as 256 municipal facilities more energy and water efficient. Mayor sly james, kansas citys hero program which makes residential pace loans to homeowners to improve the Energy Efficiency of their homes and install solar energy systems. Carolyn goodmans 100 Renewable Energy for the City Government program. Duke energys work with charlotte to reduce their Buildings Energy use and planning for ashevilles future energy needs and Salt Lake City mayor biskupskis climate positive 2040 plan as well as our own from santa fe, the santa fe verde fund, which focuses on mitigating the impacts of Climate Change on People Living in poverty. In addition, we will be holding a series of web naurs in the coming months on electrifying city fleets and procuring Renewable Energy and partnering with utilities. I strongly encourage you to utilize all of these resources and take advantage of the information that is available on our website to build or enhance your own programs. I also want to encourage you to respond to our next survey which will go out this spring and also encourage you or your staff to submit a best practice case study that you think would be helpful to your fellow mayors. We are to do more to curtail the impact of Climate Change. It is fine if we sign onto various pledges, but it is more important that we do everything we can to reduce our environmental impact. If youd like to learn more about the alliance or become an active member of our work, please see myself or judy sheehan or the staff. Id like to ask mayor jackie, to please offer any final remarks. Thank you. I just want to say one thing. Ive been attending many meetings throughout the year, and what ive realized is it will be very powerful for the covenant of mayors and the u. S. Conference of Mayors Alliance to Work Together in seesing this moment in our time and seizing that moment will help us protect our furture. There is no time to waste in full collaboration. There are Practical Solutions available both locally and globally that are vital to Climate Change, to Environmental Protection and to reducing our pollution. Collaboration will only speed up deployment across this country, and we need to seize that moment together. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Id like to thank all four mayors who spoke on this subject. We appreciate you very much. Are there any questions for the mayors that have just presented . Any questions from any of the other mayors . Just as a point of order, i know, mayor gonzalez, you mentioned that a report was made available. Im not sure everyone has that. If you could hold that up again. If theres someone who has copies that could distribute them. Theres two reports that should be in front of you. If not, our staff can make them available to you. The first highlights some of the case studies, the best practices that we were able to see and learn about throughout the country and the other is the other is a survey that we were able to conduct earlier in the year. So both should be in front of you. If not well, weve been informed as well its on the conferences website, so you can access the information there as well. Fewer trees cut. The next speakers will talk briefly about the ongoing collaboration between the u. S. And europe. Im sorry, i didnt mean to rush. Any of the mayors have any yes, mr. Mayor. Just one question or comment. We as a municipality have our own power supply. We generate about 200 megawatts into the grid. Because of the renewable electric, our sales have tremendously dropped, which, a, causes an increase in rates. We have to race our rates because our sales have dropped. Our ppas are eliminated, purchase power agreements, and the assessed values on these properties have tremendously drop. Although its great using the renewables, it does have a residual effect on the residents because their rates and costs have gone up and the existing we have an lm 6000 jet engine that provides electric so my thought is if were using that much on renewables, maybe we should concentrate on areas with outdated equipment such as what we have, lm 6000 gas turbine engines. If i could suggest one thing as we think about increased rates, think about the cost to the country of dealing with millions if not billions of people having to be relocated because of coastal flooding. About the billions of dollars spent from adverse weather. That increase in rates is going to be minuscule compared to the potential impacts of Climate Change if we dont get it under control. I agree with you 100 . And we are located on the ocean and decimated by sandy. We were affected tremendously in freeport. But my thought again is if they could bring some of this Renewable Energy and labor and development into areas that are being affected by it, it would be of great assistance. Thank you. Any other questions . Hearing none, im going to move on to the next portion of the agenda. The following speakers will talk briefly about the ongoing collaboration between the u. S. And european cities on climate. Mayors across the world continue to make progress on climate, both in mitigating emissions, improving resiliency. I might mention its important to remember, i think we forget to consider this many times that those of us living in the United States, i wont say america because our canadian friends are here and theyre way down and are better off on the scale than we are, but we produce as citizens of the United States more carbon per person than any other country on earth. So we can learn from what people in other countries are doing. I encourage all of us to do that. In fact theres been a number of mayors that have been working with european cities for some time including our past president , Elizabeth Kouts of burnsville. Ive had the opportunity to make several trips to europe working through the germanamerican marshall fund. I had recently had the mayor of bonn in bonn last year for the followup to the paris talks. So let me ask mayor cownie to offer some initial remarks and then ask him to introduce the mayor of bonn. Thank you, mr. Chair. Its interesting as we sit around this table and we think of the impact of mayors and sometimes all the work thats done at the national level, especially at the u. N. , at some of these gatherings that mayor brainard has referred to, remembering back in copenhagen we all had great hopes that were concerned about the environment that we would all come together and there would be an accord put together that the world would embrace. After a very exciting conference of the parties, it didnt happen. It was interesting that during that time, mayor kouts with european mayors initiated a Bilateral Agreement between u. S. Mayors represented by the u. S. Conference of mayors and european mayors to Work Together on, quite frankly, saving the world. And what we could do as local government representatives. Its interesting to look at the history of that since copenhagen to today, and to tell you that in my heart and in my mind as i look at what happened, copenhagen was a classic example of the failure of top down politics. What happened between then and paris i believed was driven by local government participation, showing the heads of state, leaders of countries, that there was a very broad support to do Everything Possible to deal with our environment and the changes that are taking place that adversely impact people around this world. With the encouragement of mayors all over europe, all over asia, all over africa, all over south america, australia, almost everywhere around this planet, i think encouraged and gave the courage to heads of state and their representatives to make commitments to the paris accord. I had the opportunity to attend many of those cops and watch the work that local government had working with their heads of state, encouraging them, showing what we are doing at the local level, and trying to make it National Policy in countries across this planet. This year as mayor brainard said, when we were in bonn, we had an opportunity to meet with members of the eu and others to think about how we as local government folks Work Together. With the possibility and the commitment on the part of the u. S. Conference of mayors to work with members of the eu to renew our agreement that we put together in 2010 and we are very hopeful we will put together a new protocol and understanding in a Bilateral Agreement. One of the people that i worked with was the mayor of bonn. And he was very gracious in hosting mayors from around the world. And as we had conversations and talks about the future work of local governments and how we can together continue to share our best practices, our best ideas and collectively move our efforts to lower Greenhouse Gas emissions and hopefully offset the consequences of carbon in the atmosphere and preserve this planet for future generations. So its with great pleasure that i introduce to all of you mayor ashokalexander sridharan who i have worked with together and i know that he has some comments that he would like to share with us. But welcome, mayor. Thank you very much, mayor cownie. And mr. Chairman, my dear fellow mayors, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for inviting me to the United States conference of mayors and to have me speak here in my double capacity as mayor of bonn and as first Vice President of local governments for sustain ability. Bonn in germany is a proud home to some 20 u. N. Organizations, in particular to the Climate Change secretariat of the united nations. Bonn has also been venue of climate cup 23 in november last year. It has been the voice of cities in the Global Climate debate since 1995. It was launched in the u. S. Two decades ago and looks back on fruitful cooperations with cities all over the country. This showed that Climate Action is unstoppable and irreversible and it showed that likeminded local leaderships has manifested all over the globe. Im convinced that we are still all in. Movement has been a vital momentum taken at the c. O. P. 23. So i implore to u. S. Mayors united in their support for a Better Climate future and thank those leaders from u. S. Cities and states who came to bonn and stand by their peers from all over the world. Des moines, new york city, pittsburgh and the state level of california, oregon and washington were part of over 330 local and regional leaders from more than 60 countries who made it to the Climate Summit of local and regional leaders on november 12th last year. Held inside the grounds of the unifccc the summit was a manifestation of dedication and drive unprecedented in numberunt ed in number and diversity of the local and regional leadership. Xxx. The bonn commitment expresses the willingness to be partners in the process to come and before and beyond 2020. We after firm our commitments to raise the Climate Action and connect it to the rest of the sustainability agendas in lis tick way. We will strive forward in the climate agenda, and we are calling on the parties of the unccc and the nations of the u. N. To collaborate with us to enhance the nationally determined contributions. We also call for the inclusive and ambitious gold climate architecture implemented by a coalition of all levels and stakeholders. We bring our action and accountability to the negotiation tables. The bonn commitment listed oriented statements and initiatives ranging from the front line islands and the cities building resilience to the new global reporting standard standards for cities. We are at a climate crossroad. Aim very happy that c. O. P. 23 decided on consulting with the cities of the upcoming dialogue. The process arresting the architecture of the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement is ir are reversible, and it is gaining speed. Still, there is a gap between existing National Commitments and needed reductions. Cities and regions are indispensable partners of the grand coalition towards the full and rapid participation in thing a fwreemt. Local and regional Climate Action will help to close the emission gap. We are are all in together, a and we will take next steps with all of the joint vision capacity and energy. I am feeling encouraged by the engagement of u. S. Mayors with the agreement as also reaffirmed by the chicago charter adopted one week after c. O. P. 23. I had Fruitful Exchange with my dear friend from des moines and in here. I see steppingstones ahead in our mutual cooperations. The next resilience City Congress in april is ready and distribute the u. S. Participation and i would be happy to see you at this conference in bonn. While the delegation of mayors is looking to be part of the uscm is extended to resilient country in april 26 through 28th, as well as to the enclave congress to be held in montreal in 19 june 22nd and i have brought invitation s s to this event. On the other hand, i will spread word for the upcoming Climate Conference in california and hope that many other mayors are going to be traveling in support of the climate cause with us. Thank you for welcoming me today and lending me your attention. I hope that this is going to be leading to an intensified cooperati cooperation, and mutual support, and our way towards a better future. On the enclave side we are happy to bring in our expertise and advertise to help cities live up to their commitment and vision. I am looking forward to the next steps and the rich exchange and let me end with the quote of Prime Minister frank amiama and Prime Minister of the c. O. P. 23 who said that we are a all sitting in the same canoe, and therefore, we have to build coaliti coalitions. Coalitions between our cities and coalitions between organizations such as uscm and enclave. Thank you very much. Thank you, mayor. Those comments are very greatly appreciated. Thank you for your leadership and support of our mutual efforts. Im going to turn the meeting over to my cochair now, the mayor of san Jose Sam Ricardo to moderate the remainder of the program and apologize for leaving the room, because i need to attend the executive Committee Meeting that is going on simultaneously. Thank you. Thank you, mayor bern naard,d for your continued leadership on these issues. And now we will look to an important intersection of the Environment Development and sustainability, and nobody better to lead us in that discussion than the former mayor of toronto who in addition to demonstrating extroord toronto between 2003 and 2010 has demonstrated perhaps even greater leadership in Environmental Issues since that time as a ceo of Wildlife Foundation canada, and now the north american director for c 46, and so with no further ado, i would like the to reintroduce david miller. Thank you for the gracious introduction. It is inspiring to be here and e hear about the leadership of the cities in the United States particularly in the current political climate, and the partnerships with the international organizations. I have been asked to speak a little bit about the c40s perspective in trying the to link the Climate Action with economic success and jobs. So i mean, i have a couple of comments on that and i do think that i have to put it in context and the Leadership Group as most people know in the room is an organization of now 92 of the Worlds Largest cities, essentially cities over 3 million and a number of members in the United States and canada, and worldwide organization. And our work is based on two studies that we have undertaken recently and one by a are rap ae by mckenzie. The arap says that cities have to be Carbon Neutral starting with actions of 2020 if the world is going to reach the paris targets and hold the warming to 105 degrees at a most. As a result of that, our cities are implementing the plans to do exactly that for example as a leading plan to be Carbon Neutral by 2050 starting with actions now. Secondly, the mckenzie study showed 12 key actions in the areas of waste, and how we heat and cool buildings, transportation and how we generate our lek tris electrici to reach the goals. So there are discrete actions to be done, and the cities are leading with plans to do exactly that. In all of the c40 cities, the work is underway. In the leading cities the plans are also including thinking about how to include those least well off impacted by Climate Change and what is the impact on jobs and the economy. Los angeles is doing very i applaud mayor garcetti, doing excellent work on electric buses for transportation, and i would like to give three examples of the International Cities of how they are thinking of corporate thinking with jobs and the strategy of the cities n. Vancouver in the greenest city action plan is specifically measuring actual jobs created through green initiatives and through Green Companies in areas like high the tech, i. T. , food, energy. It has goals based on the measurements to double the number of jobs in those sectors and double the number of companies in those sectors over the next five years. Copenhagen which is leading in so many ways has also integrated the thinking on the economy, jobs and Economic Growth into the Climate Change strategies. Part of the work includes a clean tech ak sel ccelerator wh being undertaken in partnership with the city, the National Government and the National Governments Economic Development agency in new york city. So they are attempting to create exportoriented jobs based on their own expertise and hightech and clean energy strategy. And finally are i would be remiss if i did not mention toronto which in our own climate work which resulted in the Greenhouse Gas reductions of 15 between 2007 and 2012. There was a direct focus on jobs and the economy, and the slide i have got up is showing that today we no longer need to accept the idea that economic success requires pollution. This is an example of stockholm which has decoupled Economic Growth from pollution as you can see. The carbon is dropping and the jobs are going up. I think that it is extremely important the take that message that we do not have to are rely on dirty jobs in order to succeed economically. If stockholm has done it, we can all do it. In toronto, we combined a variety of initiatives and for example part of the strategy of the green house production is the exclusively with Public Transit and the new buses and streetcars and subway cars were all manufactured in canada. The buses in the suburb of toronto bringing direct jobs to our people and direct te technology. Secondly, we found in working with the low income neighborhoods when we spoke to them about these issue, people said that if you are going to be investing in improving our buildings, we want to see the jobs go to our families. In a project call region park