Webinar | 6:30 a.m. New York / 11:30 a.m. Leeds / 12:30 p.m. Paris, Lagos, and Stockholm / 5:00 p.m. Mumbai
The Cities and Climate Solutions webinar series is co-organized by the City Diplomacy Lab and Columbia Global Centers | Paris.
This webinar is co-sponsored by the Columbia Climate School, Columbia Global Centers | Mumbai, and the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF).
This webinar brings together representatives from Lagos, Leeds, Mumbai, and Stockholm to discuss the topics of air pollution, local public health, carbon neutrality, climate budgets, and equity and inclusion.
Overview
In the face of the climate crisis, cities across the world are emerging as integral problem-solvers in the development of an effective, multi-layered response. The Cities and Climate Solutions series, launched in Spring 2023 with events on water and food, aims to bring together the representatives of cities that have implemented some of the most impactful and sustainable actions.
This second season of the webinar series will kick off in November 2023 and will cover the topics of air, energy, and waste. Each webinar will see the participation of representatives of three municipalities and will be moderated by a representative from Columbia University. In order to encourage geographic representativeness, each webinar will host city representatives from different regions and countries.
This series celebrates the leadership of cities and provides inspiration for the thousands of cities and local governments around the world committed to shaping the global response to climate change.
Speakers
Lagos | Babatunde Ajayi – General Manager, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA). Dr. Babatunde Ajayi is a systems efficiency expert and a Public Health Physician with training and experience in the epidemiology of disasters. A public health fellow of Erasmus Mundus, Dr. Babatunde Ajayi obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) degree from the Lagos State University before proceeding to the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, where he obtained a Master’s in Public Health and subsequently a Master’s in Business Administration at Warwick Business School.
Leeds | Andrew Hickford – Senior Project Manager in Sustainable Energy & Air Quality, Leeds City Council. Mr. Hickford works in Leeds City Council’s Climate, Energy & Green Spaces service which has responsibility for their Climate Emergency program that includes energy purchase and generation, decarbonization, air quality, tree planting, and energy-efficient corporate buildings. He leads across a range of areas, including fleet decarbonization, supporting the delivery of one of the largest ZE fleets in the country, as well as working to encourage ZE uptake across the city and region. He also delivers EV infrastructure, working on charge point delivery for their fleet in addition to working on public charging facilities, delivering a 100+ unit rapid charge network across the region, Leeds schemes in residential areas, across their council estate and hub provision, including Park & Ride locations including solar generation and on-site battery storage. He has responsibility for the Leeds Air Quality strategy and delivery of the action plan for improvement and also engagement and works with the Combined Authority on Transport decarbonization, EV, and air quality strategy development.
Mumbai | Revati Shidhaye – Assistant Engineer, Environment Dept, BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation. Ms. Shidhaye works in the Environment Department of BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation. They work in tandem with the Pollution Control Board for monitoring and mitigation measures for air pollution. With concerned departments, they also coordinate funds received from the Central Government for drinking water improvement, sanitation facilities, re-usage of sewer water, and solid waste management.
Stockholm | Magnuz Engardt – Environmental Analyst, Environment and Health Administration, City of Stockholm. Dr. Engardt has a Ph.D. in meteorology. He has worked with air pollution and climate throughout his scientific career. His present position is with the Environment and Health Administration in Stockholm, where he focuses on urban air pollution. Prior to that, he spent 20+ years at SMHI (the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute) working with regional air pollution. Engardt’s experience is mainly in the field of modeling and covers the cycling of acidifying and eutrophying species, near-surface ozone, and particulate matter.
Moderator / Dr. Lorenzo Kihlgren Grandi is the founding director of the City Diplomacy Lab. He is a lecturer in City Diplomacy at Columbia Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE | Paris), Sciences Po – PSIA, and École Polytechnique. He regularly advises international organizations, national governments, city networks, and municipalities on how to fully unfold the added value of city diplomacy. Author of City Diplomacy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), he holds a dual PhD in Political Theory from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, Paris) and Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali (LUISS, Rome).
Watch the recording
Upcoming Cities and Climate Solutions Events:
Wednesday, December 6, 3:00 p.m. (CET): Energy
Key topics: just transition, energy poverty, urban renewable energy, building energy regulations, energy retrofit.
Participating cities: Braga, Nairobi, Santiago.
Wednesday, December 22: Waste
Key topics: waste management, waste reduction, waste valorization, public health, circular economy.
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View the Spring 2023 conversation on Food at https://youtu.be/3OzxcUFOYA8
The views and opinions expressed by speakers and guests do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of City Diplomacy Lab and Columbia Global Centers | Paris.