Mayor of Paris elected to C40 Cities Steering Committee

Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris and former Chair of C40 Cities, has been elected as Vice Chair of the C40 Steering Committee, the governing body providing strategic direction for the global network of nearly 100 cities committed to addressing the global climate crisis.

Anne Hidalgo has been Mayor of Paris since 2014 – the first woman to hold that office. She was reelected in 2021 for a second term until 2026. During her period as mayor, her policies have put Paris at the vanguard of the fight against climate breakdown in urban areas.

These policies include the construction of hundreds of miles of bike lanes; the transformation of the Seine riverbank, now exclusively reserved for pedestrians and cyclists; banning traffic in certain areas of the capital on Sundays and holidays (“Paris Respire”); making the River Seine safe for swimming and bathing again by 2025; incorporating 15-minute city concepts into urban planning; greening Paris by planting 170,000 trees by the end of 2026; and her proposal to transform the Champs-Elysées by creating several gardens along the famous avenue. During her first term, the city of Paris won the bid to organise the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which have helped Paris to accelerate even further its ecological transformation. For its exceptional climate leadership, Paris received a Climate Action Award from the United Nations during COP26.

As Chair of C40 Cities between 2016 and 2019, Mayor Hidalgo championed city diplomacy worldwide and is currently engaged in several city networks, working relentlessly to raise the role of mayors in global affairs. As C40 Vice Chair for Europe, a key priority for Mayor Hidalgo will be cities’ leadership in urban climate innovation, including emphasising the importance of high-quality monitoring and reporting mechanisms that cities have introduced ahead of the COP28 Global Stocktake. Mayor Hidalgo is also committed to continuing her tireless campaign at the EU and global levels for cities to keep global heating below 1.5°C.

Mayor Hidalgo said: “I am delighted to come back to the C40 Steering Committee as Vice Chair for Europe. The time of cities has come. They are the only ones in a position to tackle the climate emergency and deliver on the Paris Agreement objectives.”