ATLANTA – The volatility in in the world recent world events, particularly the open wounds in France, will not halt the assemblage of world leaders on a monumentally important event in Paris.
Mayor Kasim Reed announced in a Wednesday press conference that he and a team will make the pilgrimage to Paris to participate in the United Nations Conference on Climate Change from Dec. 3-7. Reed and other U.S. and global leaders to discuss solutions and partnerships to address the dramatic impacts that a changing climate is having on world populations and economies.
“Climate change is one of the most important issues we face nationally and internationally. It is critical that the voices of local government leaders, especially mayors, are represented during this gathering,” said Mayor Reed. “I firmly believe that while the impact of climate change is global, many of the solutions are local. I look forward to sharing our work in the City of Atlanta with other municipal leaders from around the world, and to learning from them as well.”
Reed is among the leading city executives in the U.S. on climate change. This year, he addressed a joint U.S.- China summit on climate in Los Angeles, sharing many of the ideas and solutions currently in use in the City of Atlanta with an audience of hundreds of Chinese officials and dignitaries. In November, Mayor Reed presented at the World Economic Forum Conference on Urban Mobility and the McKinsey & Co. Global Infrastructure Initiative in San Francisco.
Both events featured national and international business and government leaders, and focused on developing solutions for transportation and sustainability challenges as the world’s population shifts.
Under Mayor Reed’s leadership, the City of Atlanta is innovating and implementing solutions for climate change and sustainability. Among them: undertaking a project to increase its reserve water supply from three days to 90 days by turning the Bellwood Quarry into a reservoir; the Solar Atlanta initiative that will see solar panels installed on 28 firehouses and recreation centers, lowering energy consumption by as much as 40 percent, and the Better Buildings Challenge, a national initiative to lower commercial energy consumption.
Atlanta currently leads among participating cities in the Challenge, with buildings representing more than 100,000 square-feet of office space involved.
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