Co-authored by consulting group Arup and C40 Cities, this study shows the significant power possessed by mayors to tackle greenhouse gas emissions in their cities.

Although mayors do not have much power to change energy supply, transmission or generation, they have a surprising amount of power to affect energy use in their cities, including building energy consumption (the hungriest energy consumer), transportation, urban waste treatment and re-use, and urban public spaces.

“C40 cities really are very important to tackling climate change. They represent a large portion of humanity and a large chunk of carbon emission,” said ARUP Director Mark Watts.

For more commentary on this document, see the full story on Breaking Energy.