C40 and ICLEI to Establish Global Standard on Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Cities

SAO PAULO, June 1, 2011 -

- Standard approach for accounting and reporting greenhouse gas emissions
will boost cities ability to access funding and implement actions

The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) and ICLEI - Local
Governments for Sustainability, announced today at the C40 Cities Mayors
Summit in Sao Paulo that the two organizations will establish a global
standard for accounting and reporting community-scale greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions that can be used across multiple platforms. This common approach
will help local governments to accelerate their emission reduction activities
whilst meeting the needs of climate financing, national monitoring and
reporting requirements. The standard will be released in time for UNFCCC COP
17 in November (Durban, South Africa).

The standard, once developed, will result in consistent, robust and
comparable city inventories. It will also allow for accurate monitoring of
progress against emissions targets, facilitate robust climate action
planning, and provide standard guidance as local governments pursue
environmental review, inventory certification and other relevant policy
making processes in their day-to-day operations.

The World Bank Group - in partnership with UN-HABITAT, UNEP, OECD -
supports the establishment of this international standard.

"Cities of all sizes play an important role in combating the impact of
climate change. Establishing a single global standard for reporting
greenhouse gas emissions will empower local governments to accelerate their
actions and access funding for mitigation and adaptation projects," said C40
Chair, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. "This will enable new
efficiencies and create a level playing field for comparing emissions across
cities around the world."

Learn more about the C40 Cities Mayors Summit and the ICLEI announcement
(live.c40cities.org/storage/ICLEI_C40_announcement_press_release_6.1.11.pdf)
at C40 Cities Live.

About C40 Cities

The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) is an organization of large
and engaged cities from around the world committed to implementing meaningful
and sustainable climate-related actions locally that will help address
climate change globally. To learn more about the work of C40 cities, please
visit www.c40cities.org/.

About ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability

More than 1200 local governments and their associations, representing
over 440 million people in 70 countries, constitute ICLEI's membership. ICLEI
is a global association of local governments and municipal organizations that
have made a commitment to sustainable development. As a movement, ICLEI runs
the world's largest climate program of cities that links local action to
national goals and internationally agreed targets. ICLEI provides
information, delivers training, organizes conferences, facilitates networking
and city-to-city exchanges, carries out research and pilot projects, and
offers technical services and consultancy.

www.iclei.org

Contacts (C40): Michael Marinello: mmarinello at c40.com (+1-425-894-1781), or Olivia Ross: oross at clintonfoundation.org (+44-7944-931-775); or Contact (ICLEI): Anke Stoffregen: anke.stoffregen at iclei.org (+49-151-50750006)