Guadalajara is battling it out with the city of Los Mochis, Sinaloa to be named the national winner in the One Planet City Challenge (OPCC), sponsored by the World Wide Fund (WWF).
OPCC is a biennial global challenge that recognizes cities for developing infrastructure, housing, transport and mobility solutions to power the global transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.
The WWF has engaged over 400 cities across five continents since its inception in 2011. In the 2017-2018 edition, 132 cities in 23 countries participated, focusing on the theme of sustainable transport and mobility as a major challenge facing cities everywhere.
An expert jury is currently reviewing all finalist cities, to select both national and a global winner, which will be announced in a press release in June/July 2018, and thereafter celebrated in a global awards ceremony.
Visiting Guadalajara this week, WWF Policy and Development Director Eugenio Barrios noted that cities are responsible for 70 percent of CO2 emissions, and by 2050, the UN estimates that 70 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas.
Past global winners include Vancouver, Canada (2013); Cape Town, South Africa (2014); Seoul, South Korea (2015) and Paris, France (2016).