By Lina Garcia
November 19, 2007

On the final day of the 2007 Mayors Climate Protection Summit, hosted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the City of Seattle, Conference leadership were joined by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to talk about next steps and ways to accelerate local leadership to curb global warming in American cities.

“During the last two days, we’ve been joined by a hundred mayors and other national leaders and are all in agreement that the time to act is now. America deserves strong leadership that will help us become energy independent, protect the environment and create good paying jobs,” said Conference President, Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer. “Mayors are leading by example, and we need a strong partnership with the federal government to achieve our national priority of energy independence.”

“We are all inspired following this highly productive summit, and as mayors will return to our homes to do whatever it takes to reduce carbon emissions and accelerate local action in our communities,” said Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, who hosted the Climate Summit. Nickels also thanked the 728 signatories of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Agreement, which he initially presented to the Conference.

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was the final keynote speaker at the Summit and called for increased research and development for climate protection, a pollution fee to discourage practices that generate greenhouse gas pollution and raising fuel efficiency standards. During the press conference he added, “The message is clear and simple and if it wasn’t for the politics, we could get a lot more done. This country used to be the one to set examples for the world, and I really think Americans want to go back to that,” Bloomberg said.

Conference Vice President Miami Mayor Manny Diaz who represents one of the most culturally diverse cities in the U.S., talked about his experience in dealing with world leaders on climate protection. “Part of what I learned at this Summit is that the level of expertise that mayors have reached to increase climate protection in their cities is really amazing,” said Diaz. “When I meet with European leaders, they often question the lack of federal initiative in this country to protect our climate but highly recognize the work and action on behalf of mayors in lieu of national support.”

After hearing from a variety of national experts ranging from developers to business leaders and former heads of state, the mayors also called on Congress to complete its work on major energy efficiency legislation by the end of the year and send it to the president for his signature. Mayors have been working closely with Congressional leaders to authorize an Energy Efficiency Block Grant to expand and accelerate community-based energy saving projects.

Following the press event, mayors joined Congressional leaders who traveled to Seattle, specifically to hold a special hearing by the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, to get ideas from mayors about local energy strategies that could be used as national models. Conference leaders, Conference President Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer, Miami Mayor Manuel Diaz and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, as well as New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg all testified before the House leadership.