VATICAN CITY: Dozens of mayors from around the world demanded on Tuesday that their national leaders take bold steps at the Paris climate talks this year, saying that could be the last chance to keep the Earth’s warming to levels still safe for humanity.

One by one, some of the 60 mayors invited to a two-day Vatican conference lined up to sign a final declaration stating that “human-induced climate change is a scientific reality and its effective control is a moral imperative for humanity.”

They were aiming to keep the pressure on world leaders ahead of the Paris negotiations in December. Pope Francis last month released an environmental encyclical that denounced what he calls a fossil fuel-based world economy that exploits the poor and destroys the Earth.

Pope Francis told the gathering that he had “a lot of hope” that the Paris negotiations would succeed, but also told the mayors: “You are the conscience of humanity.”

Experts have long said that cities are key to reducing global warming since urban areas account for nearly three-quarters of human emissions. Mayor after mayor made an individual plea at the conference for the world to change its ways.

Drawing rousing applause, California Gov. Jerry Brown denounced global warming deniers who he said are
“bamboozling” the public and politicians with false information to persuade them that the world isn’t getting warmer.

Brown, a former Jesuit seminarian, urged the mayors to not be complacent in opposing climate deniers. California has enacted the toughest greenhouse gas emissions standards in North America.

“We have a very powerful opposition that, at least in my country, spends billions on trying to keep from office people such as yourselves and elect troglodytes and other deniers of the obvious science,” he said.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced new greenhouse gas emissions targets for the Big Apple — committing the city to reducing its emissions 40 percent by 2030 — and urged other cities to follow suit.

“The Paris summit is just months away,” De Blasio said. “We need to see it as the finish line of a sprint, and take every local action we can in the coming months to maximize the chance that our national governments will act boldly.”

De Blasio is a founding member of an alliance of world cities that have committed to reducing emissions 80 per cent by 2050 or sooner.

Published in Dawn, July 22th, 2015

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