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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Mayor goes to Denmark for UN climate change summit

Pegeen has gone green.

Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan leaves Friday to attend the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, along with 25 other members of Green Jobs for Florida.

The conference, which started Dec. 7 and ends Dec. 18,  brings together officials from more than 150 nations to discuss reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

Hanrahan is representing Green Jobs for Florida and ICLEI — Local Governments for Sustainability, a nationwide association of local governments whose mission is to reduce emissions and improve local sustainability. ICLEI is funding Hanrahan’s trip.

“It’s a great honor,” Hanrahan said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

“Florida is an ideally positioned partner in business and investment in the interconnected global economy,” said Manny Mencia, senior vice president of Enterprise Florida’s International Trade & Business Development division.

“The state is already recognized nationally as one of the emerging leaders on low-carbon economic development initiatives.”

“We need to act not just because of the threat to our environment and our climate, but also because I believe there are many opportunities that will come of that action,” Hanrahan said.

Hanrahan’s goal at the meeting is to learn about opportunities and business interests that she can bring back to Gainesville. She will also communicate Gainesville’s sustainability achievements to green industries that may not have heard about such a small city, she said.

“Gainesville has a wonderful story to tell,” Hanrahan said.

The biggest project going on in Gainesville is the resynchronization of traffic signals in an attempt to reduce congestion and travel time through town, she said.

Once the project is complete, a typical trip in Gainesville is projected to take 15 percent less time, Hanrahan said. Traffic light efficiency will lead to less sitting at lights, which will cause fewer carbon emissions from cars.

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“We’re really committed to... reducing carbon emissions in our city,” Hanrahan said.

According to the EPA Web site, the goal of the Copenhagen conference is to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, the first international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“It’s not a matter of whether carbon will be regulated,” Hanrahan said. “It’s a matter of when and how.”

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