The City of Atlanta announced that Mayor Kasim Reed is participating in the inaugural meeting of the Board of Directors of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy in Brussels, Belgium. The Board provides strategic direction for the newly established coalition, which is comprised of more than 7,400 cities committed to advancing climate action. Mayor Reed is one of nine mayors on the board, and is the only sitting U.S. mayor.

“I am pleased to be a voice for U.S. cities at the inaugural meeting of the Board of Directors of the Global Covenant of Mayors,” said Mayor Reed. “Following the President’s disappointing decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, city-led climate action is more important than ever before. I’ve seen that U.S. Mayors are more passionate and dedicated to taking meaningful action than ever before. Cities have tremendous potential to reduce emissions on a global scale and accelerate progress – we can and must deliver on the goals of the Paris agreement. I am excited to work to further empower cities to transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient future that benefits the health of our communities and lays the foundation for a prosperous future.”

The board is led by co-chairs European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič and former New York Mayor and UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change Michael R. Bloomberg. Former United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary, Christiana Figueres, serves as Vice-Chair.  Current UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Patricia Espinosa, serves the Board as an advisor.

The meeting represents a significant reaffirmation of the global commitment of the coalition in bringing together global Mayors to advance city-based climate action. In addition to Mayor Reed, the Board’s 2017 Mayoral Members are:

Mayor Patricia de Lille (Cape Town, South Africa);

Mayor Mohamed Sefiani (Chefchaouen, Morocco);

Mayor Anne Hidalgo (Paris, France);

Mayor Mauricio Rodas (Quito, Ecuador);

Mayor Jaiman Upadhyay (Rajkot, India);

Mayor Park Won-soon (Seoul, South Korea);

Mayor Tri Rismaharini (Surabaya, Indonesia); and

Mayor Gregor Robertson (Vancouver, Canada).

On Monday, Mayor Reed participated in a panel discussion jointly organized by the Global Covenant and by POLITICO. The panel was moderated by Kalina Oroschakoff, a reporter with POLITICO, and included Werner Hoyer, President of European Investment Bank, Mayor Patricia De Lille of Cape Town, South Africa and Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC.

On Tuesday, Mayor Reed will participate in a media roundtable with European Commission Vice-President Šefčovič, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Espinosa and GCoM Board member Mayors. Following the roundtable, the GCoM will hold its first full board meeting. Mayor Reed and the Board have been invited to join King Phillipe of Belgium for lunch at the Royal Castle of Laeken. In addition to the formal board meeting, board members will meet with directly with Ms. Figueres, Ms. Espinosa and Mr. Šefčovič. On Tuesday evening, Michael R. Bloomberg will represent the board in his address to members of the European Parliament.

Mayor Reed is among the leading city executives in the U.S. on climate change. He was invited to join the Board of the Global Covenant in December 2016. In 2015, 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. Mayor Reed also 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.

In December 2015, Mayor Reed traveled to Paris, France to participate in the Climate Summit for Local Leaders, organized by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and former New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, both board members with the Global Covenant. Mayor Reed also participated in a panel discussion with city executives from four countries with the United Nations Twenty-First Conference of the Parties, a series of negotiations among world leaders to make an agreement to address global climate change, known as COP 21. The Paris Agreement was ratified later in December 2015.

Under Mayor Reed’s leadership, the City of Atlanta is leading the nation in implementing solutions for climate change and sustainability. Among them: undertaking a project to increase its reserve water supply from three days to 30 days by turning 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. The City of Atlanta currently leads among participating cities in the Challenge, with buildings representing more than 100 million square-feet of office space involved.