In the introduction to October 14's BlackRock's Larry Fink: "Rich Countries Must Bear the Cost if We Can Ever Hope to Achieve a Net-Zero World":
Having studied the science, economics, politics, finance, psychology, law, messaging, regulation, sociology, and policy prescriptions of global warming since 1992 the overriding lesson learned is:I obviously wasn't thinking large enough.
It's always about the money.
If you take away nothing else from this little blog, take that.
And save yourself an eighth-of-a-million pages of reading.
It's also about power.
And although the two are to a large extent fungible (see the next post for an example) money and power are separate and distinct manifestations of the reality of human existence.
Two from CityAM, first up, the headliner, October 20:
London mayor Sadiq Khan will use the upcoming COP26 to vouch for cities like London to have greater powers and funding.
It forms part of the mayors bid to “tackle the twin dangers of the climate emergency and toxic air pollution”, his spokesperson told City A.M.
“The mayor will use COP26 to highlight how London is already taking action and having an impact with policies like the world’s-first Ultra Low Emission Zone – creating jobs and reducing inequalities in the process,” they said.
“COP26 will also be a vital moment for Sadiq and other city leaders to make the case to government that cities need more powers and funding.”
Khan’s version of a successful COP26, the UN’s flagship climate conference, will also see an agreement on binding net zero emission targets for all nations by 2050, which considers the financial support required by nations to manage the transition, particularly states in the global south.
“That’s why I’ve committed to making London zero-carbon by 2030, faster than any comparable city, and it’s why we are delivering a climate action plan that is compatible with the highest ambition of the Paris Agreement,” Khan said.
It follows Khan telling the Evening Standard yesterday that the UK cannot have a national recovery without a London recovery, in relation to the government’s levelling up agenda....
....MORE
And today:
Senior KPMG partner responds to Sadiq Khan's COP26 call for London to get more powers
If interested we've looked at various aspects of mayoral might and moolah:
Trends to Watch: "Can mayors actually rule the world?"
In low-key but very persistent ways technocrats* have been aiming at this target for years and now it seems to be gathering some momentum. Here's a good introduction by Harvard's Diane Davis.
"Mayoral Powers in the Age of New Localism"
One of the problems with politics is that the people attracted to power are exactly the ones who should not be allowed anywhere near it."Cities Are Rising in Influence and Power on the Global Stage"
Go figure.
We've been watching the mission-creep trend in municipal governance for a while now, trying to get in front of it—"Il faut bien que je les suive, puisque je suis leur chef"*—to make a bucko or two but, to date, have only come up with the tautology that these people would rather jet off to Buenos Aires during the Northern Hemisphere winter for the Global Parliament of Mayors** than stay home and fix potholes.
It was ever thus, or at least has been since 1967 when John Lennon noted "4000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire"
*Ledru-Rollin, 1848—schoolboy French translation: "I must follow them for I am their leader."
**This year the get-together was actually held in Stavanger in late September. Nice 'hood, nice time of year.
A subject near and dear to our jaded hearts.
It's the manifestation of the age-old thirst for power, to make the world as you want it, and an acknowledgement that fixing potholes is boring.
A Warning On Mayors Ruling The World From A Surprising Source
There is a determined push to decrease the importance of nation-states while elevating the worldwide political power of municipalities and their mayors, a trend I had assumed CityLab backed come hell-or-high-water.
Maybe not.
The writer of this piece, Amy Liu, hangs her hat at Brookings....
"Gadabout Urbanist Richard Florida Has a New Book...
"It advises cities on what to do about problems that result from advice he gave them in his previous books..."
Yesterday two Alphavilleins, Izabella Kaminska on Twitter and Kadhim Shubber in the Further Reading post highlighted this Dani Rodrik essay at Aeon.
We've been kicking around ideas on how to profit from a devolution of power from larger entities (nation-states) to smaller (city-states) should said devolution occur. So, stealing a way of thinking from Eisenhower, in another context, obvs.:
In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.
- Dwight D. EisenhowerOur most recent piece on what may or may not be a phenomena was last month's "Return of the City-State, Or: The End of the Nation State May Be Upon Us" which also linked to Aeon.
I'm not sure where Kadhim comes down on the structure-of-power thing but I suspect Izabella might not be aghast at a return to prominence of the Baltic City-States although probably not the Hanseatic League...
And many more, you know the drill.
