The need to balance a growing economy with environmental sustainability was highlighted by various speakers from local government, including City of Johannesburg executive mayor Amos Masondo, academics, business representatives, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), the financial sector, and Clinton Climate Initiative vice-chairperson Jan Hartke.

Delegates hoped to emerge from the summit with a local government declaration that could be adopted to effect a lower carbon economy, with clearer strategies and aims.

Going forward, cities would be required to operate in new ways, with clear and decisive policies for climate change mitigation and adaptation, which included participation from the public sector, the private sector and NGOs.

Masondo noted that local government was on the front line of implementation and service delivery, and would need to pursue adequate mitigation and adaptation strategies.

“The competitive nature of our planet and the constant need to woo investment, to develop infrastructure and create work in order to counter pervasive poverty are often initiated at the expense of the environment,” said City of Johannesburg member of the mayoral committee for environmental management Prema Naidoo, who added that it was vital for environmental management to become central to the planning and execution of public-initiated projects.

Buffalo City executive mayor Zintle Peters affirmed that South Africa needed climate change champions at local level, and added that the success of programmes relied on political support. She also noted the need for an integration of efforts, and the need for South Africa to respond to the issues of urbanisation and migration that could result from global warming, as well as the need for mutual collaboration between various sectors on research regarding climate change and its impacts.

Under scrutiny at the summit in Nasrec, in Johannesburg, were climate change and policy – integration with planning and development; climate change migration and crisis response; climate change and transport; climate change and buildings; climate change and energy; climate change and waste; climate change and natural resources; and carbon financing and economic development opportunities.

The City of Johannesburg had, in 2007, committed to a number of climate change mitigation initiatives, such as its intentions to reduce its largely coal-based energy consumption, the retrofitting of all municipal buildings, introducing alternative energy sources in new housing and settlement projects, as well as the planting of trees.

Joburg City’s bus rapid-transit (BRT) system was also viewed as a project that could lower fossil fuel consumption in the city significantly. Savings were estimated to be 382 940 t of carbon dioxide by 2013, resulting from the implementation of the BRT system, which would hopefully mean fewer people driving cars in the city and using the fuel-efficient buses as the preferred mode of public transport.

A heightened focus on adaptation was also required in addition to the numerous mitigation initiatives. Already South Africa was spending millions on ‘clean-ups’ following severe weather occurrences, such as storms and floods, and it was questionable whether the country’s infrastructure could cope with frequent occurrences such as these.

University of the Witwatersrand BMW chair on sustainability, Professor Coleen Vogel stated that environmental managers needed to sit with engineers in the planning stages to deal with the implications of climate change on infrastructure.