Leadership of mayors and cities emphasised in the run up to Swedish political forum in Almedalen

In the run up to Almedalen, one of the most important forums in Swedish politics, city mayors, municipal leaders and civil society are joining together to battle climate change through a Nordic initiative called “Will Mayors Rule the World". The initiative's purpose is to illustrate how cities can take the lead in the fight against climate change and make a difference through their own actions.

“Will Mayors Rule the World" emphasises leadership and social innovation as key drivers to fight climate change ahead of the UN Climate meeting in Paris in December. Kicking off on the 28th of June, the Political Week in Almedalen will start with a two-day event for Mayors, bringing together politicians and stakeholders to discuss an action plan leading up to the UN climate discussions. The dialogue will be started with an interactive hackathon, or Climathon, prior to gathering: the 24-hour IT chat held between 17-19th of June will connect cities to come up with innovative solutions for discussion in Almedalen.

“Strong commitments on a regional level can go hand in hand with national commitments. This initiative shows that there are many ways to work for the climate and that they should be fully encouraged regardless of the outcomes of the climate negotiations in Paris", said Jens Olejak, Managing Director Sweden at South Pole Group.

The Political Week in Almedalen will host various workshops, seminars and IT networking activities, among them a special event on innovation and technology for low carbon cities organized by South Pole Group. The session will cover the innovativeLow Carbon City Lab (LoCaL) programme launched at ICLEI's World Congress in Seoul in April, which seeks to help cities around the world unlock their emission reduction potential.