The Mayor of Buenos Aires and Vice President of C40, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, and the Mayor of Los Angeles and President of C40, Eric Garcetti, held a virtual meeting today to analyze courses of action in the fight against COVID-19 and the prospect for green recovery after the pandemic.

During the meeting, Rodríguez Larreta explained the current measures Buenos Aires is taking in the first stage of its Comprehensive Switch-on Plan to reopen the city after several months of lockdown. He also touched on the interventions made to public spaces to better promote sustainable mobility, measures to avoid crowding, and measures to encourage neighbourhood-scale commerce that does not require public transport use.

"Sustainable transport is a priority in Buenos Aires. As part of our commitment to C40 guidelines, we are working with other Argentine cities and the entire region to exchange measures and good practices, and to promote policies to strengthen our fight against climate change in Latin America," said Rodríguez Larreta.

Mayor Garcetti shared his vision for C40 in the region. “I want to expand the C40 network, I want its know-how to be extended and easily accessible to cities. I want us to lead together the vision of what our cities of the future will be,” he said.

Los Angeles is a leader in the fight against climate change. Its comprehensive L.A. Green New Deal addresses the challenge as a moral imperative, an environmental emergency, and an economic opportunity. Its main objective is to lead towards a future with lower carbon emissions and sustainable energy.

In addition, Mayor Rodríguez Larreta provided Mayor Garcetti with details of the regional initiative held by Buenos Aires and Bogotá under the C40 aegis, the "Dialogue for climate action in Latin American cities in the post-COVID-19 context", where both cities are actively involving other cities of the region in committing to a sustainable and fair reconstruction as part of the solution to the health crisis.

As vice presidents of the C40, both Buenos Aires and Bogota are members of the C40 Steering Committee representing Latin America, and are developing their Climate Action Plans to be carbon neutral cities by 2050.

Substantially reducing GHG emissions by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2050 are objectives that also correspond to the Paris Agreement, a historic pact to combat climate change. Rodríguez Larreta and Garcetti, both members of Urban 20 -the group that represents the voice of cities in the G20-, agreed on the importance of complying with the Paris Agreement and including that particular commitment on the Mayors' communiqué that will be presented to the G20 leaders in October.

Finally, Garcetti confirmed that he will participate in the next Regional Meeting of Mayors -to be held in October - in his capacity as President of the C40.