​On 12 November 2017, the City of Cape Town joined other local and regional leaders from around the world to issue the ‘Bonn-Fiji Commitment of Local and Regional Leaders to Deliver the Paris Agreement at All Levels’. This pledge signals Cape Town’s joint commitment to reducing the impacts of climate change and working towards reducing carbon emissions.

The summit held in Bonn, Germany was attended by over 300 political leaders and more than 1 000 delegates. The Mayor of Bonn, Ashok Sridharan, opened the summit with the words, ‘Welcome to the age of sustainable development’.

The former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the current governor, Jerry Brown, gave keynote addresses at the summit.

‘Cities, states and regions hold tremendous power, especially when you work together,’ said Schwarzenegger.

The Bonn-Fiji commitment emphasises the ongoing commitment to keep global temperature rise to below two degrees Celsius.

The Chairperson of the City’s Committee on Sustainability and Resilience, Councillor Dave Bryant, attended the summit and also represented the City at COP23 and accompanying side events and workshops. This included a three-day workshop on the ongoing Cape Town-Munich partnership to promote sustainability initiatives in key sectors of local government.

‘The summit provided an opportunity for cities and regions across the world to share successes and challenges in reducing the impacts of climate change. There is widespread agreement that cities cannot wait any longer to implement mitigation measures. We must work together to urgently reduce our carbon emissions dramatically in order to avert widespread ecological disasters in the years to come,’ said Councillor Bryant.

This was the first COP where the United States (US) did not have a formal exhibition area. In lieu of this, the US Climate Action Centre was set up by non-federal government actors to ensure that the US had a presence. This included a keynote address earlier in the week by former American vice-president, Al Gore. The exhibition carried the slogan ‘we are still in’. Councillor Bryant visited the centre in a show of solidarity with the ongoing efforts of regular Americans towards climate action.

The City of Cape Town is a leader in Africa when it comes to reducing carbon emissions. The Energy 2040 programme aims to reduce dependency on coal and focus specifically on large-scale embedded rooftop solar generation. The City has also recently committed to divesting from fossil fuel initiatives in the future.

‘The City’s efforts to reduce electricity consumption have already yielded significant results, with consumption decreasing steadily since 2009. The Energy 2040 programme aims to reduce carbon emissions by 37% by 2040 through the roll-out of rooftop solar programmes and the implementation of further energy efficiency measures. As a member of the 100 Resilient Cities programme, we are proud of our efforts thus far and we remain committed to increasing our resilience going forward,’ said Councillor Bryant.

The programme to replace all City-owned public lighting with LED lighting has been a key contributor in reducing energy consumption. This has been coupled with the Smart Living campaign which educates members of the public around ways to reduce their own consumption.

Last year the City rolled out a pilot programme with thousands of free home-composting units delivered to homes across the city.

‘We would like to see a significant increase in the number of home-composting units going forward as home-composting reduces the levels emissions from landfill sites,’ said Councillor Bryant. 

The City is working to improve Cape Town’s public transport system, with a key aim to reduce travel distances, thereby also reducing emissions. Currently the transport sector contributes 64% of energy consumption and 34% of overall emissions.

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