Five Southeast Asian Cities Commit to Delivering their Share of the Paris Agreement:

This press release first appeared on the C40 website.

Jakarta, Indonesia (18 June 2019) — Jakarta, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Kuala Lumpur and Quezon City today publicly confirmed their commitment to deliver on their share of the Paris Agreement. They join a coalition of over 70 C40 cities from across the globe committed to the bold climate action needed to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement.  The announcement was made by Governor of Jakarta, Anies Baswedan and officials from each city, at the C40 Southeast Asian Regional Academy in Jakarta.

The Academy also saw the launch of the C40 Climate Action Planning Programme for Southeast Asia to support the ambitions of cities in the region. This Programme will build capacity in the cities to develop integrated and inclusive climate action plans that address the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adapt to the impacts of climate change, and deliver wider social, environmental and economic benefits.

The technical assistance programme was kicked off with cities sharing a common framework and best practices for climate action planning. C40 Climate Action Planning Southeast Asia Programme is made possible with the support from the UK Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

Governor of Jakarta, Anies Baswedan, said

“It is an honour for Jakarta Provincial Government and I to launch this important initiative; C40’s Climate Action Planning Southeast Asia Programme. For us, this is an opportunity to shop for ideas and share our practices, as well as network and exchange experiences.”

Governor Anies also outlined the challenges the city is facing with regards to environmental issues, which he hoped could together be discussed and sought solutions for. Amongst the challenges are increasing GHG emissions, pollution from transport, land subsidence and flooding from thirteen rivers that run through the city.

“Our challenge today is to ensure that economy is in parallel with ecology because in the past, they often don’t align. When in fact, those two words have the same root – oikos nomos and oikos logos. We now commit to align them and exactly because of that, this programme is really important. We hope we can exchange ideas, open up about our issues and learn best practices to adapt.” Governor Anies said.

Governor Anies also highlighted the policy and fiscal commitment to support environmental programmes in Jakarta Provincial Government. He underlined his hope that C40’s Climate Action Planning Regional Academy could bring positive changes for participating cities, including Jakarta.

Mark Watts, C40 Cities, Executive Director, said:

“The cities of Southeast Asia are some of the fastest growing and most dynamic in the world. They are also some of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate breakdown. This commitment by Jakarta, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Kuala Lumpur and Quezon City is a vital step in keeping global over-heating within the limits that science tells us is safe. C40 will do everything we can to support these cities in delivering on the goals they have set today”.