King County Executive Dow Constantine is in Beijing this week to participate in a summit where leaders of U.S. and Chinese metropolitan regions will build upon the landmark 2014 agreement by President Obama and President Xi to reduce carbon emissions.
Constantine was one of 20 elected leaders across the nation invited by the U.S. Department of State to represent the United States in the summit where they will meet with leaders from 40 Chinese cities.
“King County’s reputation as a national leader in confronting climate change continues to grow,” said Constantine in a county media release. “I look forward to meeting with other metropolitan leaders from across the United States and China and sharing cutting-edge ideas to create greener communities.”
The second U.S.-China Climate-Smart/Low-Carbon Cities Summit is a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of State and the Chinese government. It’s organized by C40 Cities – a global nonprofit organization helping cities address climate change – and the Compact of Mayors, a coalition of cities committed to reducing local greenhouse gas emissions and making cities more resilient to climate change. It was launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Event organizers are paying for Constantine’s travel expenses, according to county officials.
King County has received national recognition for its work to confront climate change through collaborations, increasing transit options, promoting urban density, conserving forests and open spaces, and significantly reducing the county’s energy consumption.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently recognized the King County-Cities Collaboration – a partnership between the county and 14 cities committed to dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions – with its Innovative Partnership Climate Leadership Award. Kent is not one of the 14 cities in the partnership.
King County’s updated Strategic Climate Action Plan – described by Earth Day co-founder Denis Hayes as the “best” he’s seen – provides direction to achieve bold targets.
Constantine recently launched a new partnership to plant one million trees across King County 2020 to reduce carbon pollution.
The Beijing summit builds on the foundation created by the landmark 2014 agreement announced by President Obama and President Xi to reduce carbon emissions. The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment in 2015 in advance of the historic climate change summit in Paris where participating nations agreed to capping carbon emissions as soon as possible.
It will feature more than a dozen sessions to share cutting-edge approaches to building low-carbon, climate-resilient communities.
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