We held the second Low Carbon City Forum in Villahermosa, Tabasco from September 5 to 7 in partnership with La Ciudad Verde Mexico. We held 27 academic activities, with 75 experts and 1,000 participants from 18 countries.
The forum provided a space for dialogue and collective construction on topics such as sustainable mobility, responsible consumption, energy transition, environmental education, waste management, urban agriculture, and resilient cities. The agenda was built collectively through an open call and 110 applications from 35 cities in 10 countries. The Forum was carbon neutral.
Some of the outstanding experts were: Ian Monroe, CEO and Founder of Oroeco and Etho Capital; Tabaré Arroyo, WWF Regional Director of Sustainable Energy; David Rodríguez, Secretary of Economic Development and Tourism of Tabasco Government; Eduard Muller, Director of the University for the Cooperation of Costa Rica, Albert Kraisel, of the Medellin-Berlin Urban Laboratory, and Jessie Vega, of the Center for Urban Sustainability of Costa Rica.
Impact
Featured activities
Keynote: Building Cities for Life
Panelists: Ian Monroe, CEO and founder Oroeco – Etho Capital | Tabaré Arroyo, Director Energy, WWF
Keynote: Children dreaming their cities
Panelists: Manuela Gutiérrez, Medellín | Genoveva Ramos, México | José Ramos, México | David Alcocer, México | Paolo Alcocer, México
Keynote: Green Universities
Panelists: Eduard Mueller, University for International Cooperation, Costa Rica | Patry Huitrón, Learning Cities | Carlos Borrero, Cali, Autonomous Univeristy
Workshop: Children and climate change
Children had a space to co-create. In this workshop, they connected with nature and created their prototypes of urban gardens using recycled materials.
The Low Carbon City Forum is going to París. Low Carbon City Forum 2018
After an open call, Paris was chosen for the third edition of the Low Carbon City Forum. The launch of the 2018 forum was held at COY 13 and People’s Climate Summit in the framework of COP 23 in Bonn, Germany.
Amina Bouri y Anouk Lucas, Coordinators of the Low Carbon City Forum 2018
At the end of the Forum we conducted a satisfaction survey and 97% of the people rated the event positively. The respondents expressed the learning, achievements and projects they wish to undertake. Some of the most mentioned are: the strengthening of our network in Villahermosa, implementation of environmental plans in schools and universities, desire to adopt cleaner energies, take actions for the conservation of biodiversity in Mexico, transformation of individual habits, waste management, adoption of sustainable mobility and support for pro-bike groups in the city.
Carbon Neutral Forum
To ensure the neutral carbon footprint of the event, we measured it, with the support of Incyclo, an organization dedicated to environmental advice. Based on real data on food, transport, logistics, marketing and national and international travel, a footprint of 71,591 kg of CO2 was estimated. (Report in spanish here . The compensation was carried out with the planting of trees in Villahermosa, Mexico and Medellín, Colombia.
Let’s continue building cities for life.
Villahermosa, Tabasco is a city of approximately 600 thousand inhabitants. With accelerated growth due to the oil impact, it has become one of the places with the highest energy production in Latin America. So, How can we become a low carbon city?
In September it was possible to impact citizens positively in a Forum without precedents in Mexico. We managed to bridge agendas among different organizations, companies and government for the construction of strategies and projects oriented to emissions reduction, tactical urbanism, reduction of waste, renewable energies, mobility and education.
It has been very gratifying to see how the Forum planted seeds of change towards an ecological conscience and citizen engagement in climate change.
Grateful and excited of the sum of wills and collective efforts, we are preparing for the 3rd World Forum in Paris.
David Montiel, Low Carbon City 2017 Forum Coordinator & Green City Mexico Coordinator
