Climate Change

For too long, discussions about climate change have been about sacrifice. I am here to tell you that climate solutions actually make a better city and a better quality of life for everyone. This is only the first of five lessons we have learned on our journey to become an emission-free city. And I think these lessons can be applied almost anywhere. So I like to share them. So lesson number one, confronting climate change is about creating better cities and better quality of life for everyone, including those kids in the kindergarten, that don't have to share their days with noisy excavators. The second lesson is about being ambitious. In 2015, the city council set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 95 percent by 2030 without purchasing any carbon offsets. So aiming for real reductions. Commitment to this goal changed our mindset. If we were going to reach this target, every department had to get active, figure out measures and finding out how to implement them. So second lesson, be ambitious. A target measured in years, not decades, provides no excuse for inaction.