By Kevin McCarty
December 17, 2012

Nearly 200 nations this month agreed to extend established carbon emission reduction targets until 2020, just before the December 31, 2012 deadline of the Kyoto Protocol was due to expire.

Developing and industrial countries meeting in Doha, Qatar agreed to the eight-year extension to give national negotiators more time to reach consensus on a successor agreement to replace the Kyoto treaty negotiated in 1997.

For the more than 1,054 mayors who joined as signatories to the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement or others who embraced its principles, Kyoto’s December 31 deadline has been a driver for city energy and climate strategies aimed at curbing energy use and carbon emissions.

The Conference of Mayors officially endorsed the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement at its 2005 Annual Meeting in Chicago, affirming mayoral efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through local action.

Among the organization’s many efforts over the years to support mayors in their local energy and climate work, Conference leaders championed the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program to support local energy and climate action. This federal program was authorized at the end of 2008, and funded as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009.