A Carbon Tale of Three Cities

This joint British and Canadian high level panel event will speak on low-carbon strategies and plans for the cities, as well as opportunities and challenges for businesses.

Please RSVP directly to contact on the flyer.

Biographies of the speakers:

David Miller, Mayor of Toronto and the Chair of C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group

In July 2007, the City of Toronto released a wide-ranging Climate Change, Clean Air and Sustainable Energy Action Plan.  Toronto’s sustainable energy strategy, The Power to Live Green, came into effect in late 2009 and lays out a series of energy conservation and alternative energy production programs and policies for all city agencies and neighbourhoods to ensure Toronto meets its goal of 80 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, based on 1990 levels.

Under Mayor Miller’s leadership, the City of Toronto has allocated $4 Billion to climate change related initiatives. Major projects include constructing over 120 km of new light rail which is the third largest in North America, Mayor’s Tower Renewal a project designed to create jobs, promote local food production and energy efficiency improvements on over 1000 high-rise residential buildings.

In November 2003, Torontonians chose David Miller as their new mayor and in November, 2006 he was re-elected for a second four-year term.  Mayor Miller received a degree in economics from Harvard University and a law degree from the University of Toronto. He and his wife, lawyer Jill Arthur, are the parents of two children.

Nicky Gavron, London Assembly Member and former Deputy Mayor of London

Nicky Gavron has been at the forefront of developing land-use, transport and environmental policies for London for over two decades, becoming the city‘s first Deputy Mayor in 2000.  She served in Ken Livingstone’s internationally admired administration for seven years and was re-elected to the London Assembly in 2008.  She currently chairs City Hall’s Planning and Housing Committee.

Throughout the 90s, as leader of the London Planning Advisory Committee, she commissioned research and formulated policies for the development of a sustainable London, including the initial strategy on congestion charging.  As Deputy Mayor, she led London’s response to climate change, introducing a set of groundbreaking policies and programmes to reduce CO2 emissions – covering waste, water, energy and transport.  These were brought together in the first London Plan, which set out the vision and long-term policies to make London an exemplary sustainable world city, and in the Climate Change Action Plan.  Her initiatives included the establishment of the London Climate Change Agency and the C40 Large Cities Leadership Group.

Nicky is now internationally recognized for her environmental and urban planning expertise, working with cities and city networks in the UK and around the world.

Martin Powell, Advisor on the Environment for the Mayor of London and Director of Environment & Capital Projects, London Development Agency

Martin is responsible for London’s policy development in energy and climate change, adaptation, water, air quality and waste.  As the Director of LDA, he is responsible for the delivery of the regeneration and climate change projects. 

He developed the LDA’s Environmental Strategy, an action plan for London’s transition to the Low Carbon Economy and the Energy Efficiency and Energy Supply Programmes – designed to deliver carbon savings at scale in London.  He has spoken at several high profile events including COP15 climate summit in Copenhagen and the Vancouver Winter Games on how we can unlock finance into cities to enable the transition to the Low Carbon Economy.

Martin has a degree in engineering.  He worked for an Italian engineering company in Rome before joining Ove Arup & Partners where he was responsible for the delivery of several high profile projects in the UK, Italy, Spain and Asia.