Fossil Fuel Free Streets Declaration
As mayors of some of the world’s great cities, we are committed to transforming them into greener, healthier, and more prosperous places to live. Our streets must be safe and accessible for everybody and our air must be clean and free from harmful emissions. This will improve the quality of life for all citizens, and help tackle the global threat of climate change.
We envision a future where walking, cycling, and shared transport are how the majority of citizens move around our cities. This shift towards zero emission mobility will result in less congestion and less pollution, while making our roads quieter and the air we breathe cleaner.
One third of greenhouse gas emissions from C40 cities come from transportand traffic is the biggest source of air pollution, globally responsible for up toone quarter of particulate matter in the air. As cities continue to grow they are becoming more congested, with people spending more time in traffic. A study across the US, UK, France and Germany showed that congestion on our roads is costing the economy on average almost one percent of GDP. This is not only holding back our economies through lost time and productivity, but also harming our health and the environment through worsening air pollution. Recent data shows that dirty air leads to almost 4.5 million premature deaths a year and afflicts many more, particularly children, with illnesses such as asthma.
We are already delivering our vision of greener, healthier and more prosperous cities but we recognise the urgent need for ambitious climate action to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. We also recognise the need for a comprehensive, holistic approach to transform the way people travel around our cities that builds on pledges made as part of the C40 Clean Bus Declaration and supports those articulated in the Global MacroRoadmap: An Actionable Vision for Transport Decarbonization.
We pledge to transition to Fossil-Fuel-Free Streets by:
Procuring, with our partners, only zero-emission buses from 2025; and ensuring a major area of our city is zero emission by 2030.
To meet this commitment, we will:
Transform our cities through people-friendly planning policies.
Increase the rates of walking, cycling and the use of public and shared transport that is accessible to all citizens.
Reduce the number of polluting vehicles on our streets and transition away from vehicles powered by fossil fuels.
Lead by example by procuring zero emission vehicles for our city fleets as quickly as possible.
Collaborate with suppliers, fleet operators and businesses to accelerate the shift to zero emissions vehicles and reduce vehicle miles in our cities.
Publicly report every two years on the progress the cities are making towards these goals.