Ilan Cuperstein
C40 Deputy Regional Director for Latin America
Cities have a crucial role regarding climate action: most greenhouse gas emissions occur in cities, while they also appear as one of the most active stakeholders to lead sustainable and lasting transformation, as advocated by C40. Latin American cities, often depicted as “urban laboratories”, illustrate this complex reality.
In the absence of national leadership, Brazilian cities for instance, have been taking the lead and implementing sustainable innovative solutions, on many different areas: transport, renewable energies, urban planning...
The region also demonstrates how social aspects can be fully integrated in climate solutions: a prerequisite given Latin America persisting inequalities. In this regard, innovative public-private business models emerge as well, to build economically viable sustainable solutions, without increasing costs for lower income users.
