World leaders must act for reaching global climate deal 'now or never', says Copenhagen mayor

COPENHAGEN -- Copenhagen Mayor Frank Jensen Thursday called on world leaders to act to slow down the worrying global warming, saying "it is now or never to reach a global agreement."

"I am going to take this opportunity to speak loudly that leaders on national level must take the responsibility to reach a global climate agreement," the Copenhagen mayor told Xinhua in an exclusive interview ahead of his trip to Paris on Dec. 3 for the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference, or COP21.

"We have to act. The heads of states cannot continue talking about climate changes without doing anything. We have to act concretely against the climate change, that is what we are doing everyday as city leaders," Jensen said.

COPENHAGEN AS A MODEL

Copenhagen is considered one of the most livable cities in the world. Now it is used by C40 Cities, a network of the world's megacities committed to addressing climate change, as a benchmark to showcase how to transform cities to be more sustainable and greener.

Jensen recalled that when he was young, Copenhagen was heated with petrol in winter. Now energy-efficient district heating systems are widely used in Copenhagen as well as across Denmark.

Copenhagen launched its carbon neutrality scheme in 2009, aiming to become the world's first complete carbon neutral city by 2025. Jensen said the city is right on the track, reducing CO2 emission by 45 percent from 1995 to 2014.

"It makes Copenhagen in the frontline of cities going green and makes the city more livable," the mayor said.

He noted, however, that many countries are still worried about the slowdown of the economic growth as a result of "going green."

"It is not necessarily so," Jensen said. "I am going to bring a very important message to the heads of states and leaders of the world that you can make this transformation of our society to be greener and more sustainable, and at the same time create a lot of new jobs and have a good economy."

"When we invested in our district heating system in Copenhagen, it created a lot of jobs, and it was a good business case for the city and its citizens," he added.