Los Angeles Would Host the Greenest Games in Olympic History

LOS ANGELES, CA -- Los Angeles is committed to delivering the "Greenest Games" in Olympics history, LA 2024 Chairman Casey Wasserman said Monday while pointing to Mayor Eric Garcetti's recent "visionary" speech at the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Conference as evidence.

Garcetti delivered the keynote address to a network of the world's largest cities at the C40 conference in Mexico City on Thursday, where he announced new plans for L.A. to curb greenhouse gas emissions, fight climate change, and increase electric vehicle use.

"The LA 2024 team are so proud of our mayor in taking this global leadership position on tackling climate change," Wasserman said. "The Olympic family can be totally confident that Los Angeles 2024 would be a Games-changer when it comes to environmental sustainability."

The private LA 2024 Bid Committee is competing with bid committees in Paris and Budapest to bring the Olympics to the Los Angeles area in 2024.

At the C40 conference, Garcetti talked about L.A.'s plan to work with other West Coast cities to fight climate change, discussed L.A.'s existing target of an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and committed the city to being a leader in limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as outlined in the international Paris Climate Agreement adopted in December 2015.

Every city, every community, every individual has the power to fight climate change," Garcetti said at the C40 conference. "We do not need to wait for any one person or government to show us the way. Acting together as cities, we can set an example for our neighbors, spur clean energy innovation, clean up our air, and speed up the inevitable transition to a low-carbon, opportunity- rich future for us all."

City News Service