Mayors pledge coordinated climate action ahead of UN conference in Brazil

SAO PAULO (AP) — Just days ahead of the U.N. climate conference to be held in Brazil, a group of 300 mayors gathered Monday in Rio de Janeiro to pledge coordinated climate action and address rising heat that is hurting many of their residents.

The summit was organized by C40, a network of mayors from big cities that has pushed to be included in decisions on how to combat global warming and adapt to its effects.

Selwyn Hart, the U.N. special adviser and assistant secretary-general for climate change, said at the opening that mayors are on the front lines of the climate crisis.

“In the midst of all the geopolitical tensions and divisions, it is truly amazing and inspirational to see what is happening in this room and on the ground in your cities,” Hart said, adding that local leaders are needed “more than ever” as the world enters the second decade of implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The Paris Agreement aims to keep average global temperature from rising beyond 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees), and ideally limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), compared to the 1850s. To do that, the agreement says nations must slash planet-warming pollution that results when coal, oil and gas are burned.

Ana Toni, Brazil’s climate change chief and CEO of COP30, said meeting those goals would only be possible by engaging mayors. “It is you, mayors, who have to make very hard decisions in daily life, together with people,” Toni said.

The U.S. decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and set back its climate goals seemed to loom large at the mayors’ summit.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said mayors have “long been climate doers, while too many nations and states have been the climate delayers or, indeed, climate deniers.” Now, he added, the challenge has moved beyond a battle against climate denial.

“Now, it is an existential fight between the climate wreckers and climate defenders,” Khan said. “Among the wreckers is the president of the United States of America, someone who stood up at the U.N. only a matter of weeks ago and called the climate crisis a scam.”

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego drew applause from the audience after saying she was bringing “good news from the United States” and asked fellow American city leaders to raise their hands.

“We have 50 cities from the U.S. that are here, all committed to ambitious climate action. So, while our national government goes backward, these cities go forward,” Gallego said.

Gallego addressed how extreme heat is affecting her city, which has repeatedly broken temperature records in recent years. “This year, we hit 118 degrees — nearly 48 Celsius — not once, but twice,” the mayor said.

She then introduced the city’s plan to plant trees and install shade structures, develop pilot cool-surface technology, and offer heat-relief training to first responders, such as paramedics handling heat emergencies.

Scientists say that 4 billion people, about half the world’s population, experienced at least one extra month of extreme heat because of human-caused climate change from May 2024 to May 2025.

The extreme heat caused illness, death, crop losses and strained energy and health care systems, according to the analysis from World Weather Attribution, Climate Central and the Red Cross. Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, C40 co-chair and mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, said that extreme heat stands now as the deadliest weather related disaster and contributed to an estimated 489,000 deaths each year.

“And the economic consequences are staggering. Global extreme heat is projected to cause $2.4 trillion dollars of loss productity by 2030, as it becomes too dangerous for working outdoors,” she said, mentioning businesses like construction and agriculture.

On Monday, the C40 mayors launched a global coalition to prepare cities for a hotter future through an effort called the Cool Cities Accelerator.

A coalition of 33 cities — including Austin, Texas; Boston; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Freetown, Sierra Leone; London; Nairobi, Kenya; Phoenix; Paris and Singapore — has pledged to collaborate, share best practices and report progress on emergency measures such as strengthening early warning systems and ensuring access to cooling projects.

Within five years, cities aim to improve building standards, expand urban tree cover and shade, and future-proof critical infrastructure.

The Accelerator has implementation support from ClimateWorks Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Z Zurich Foundation and Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Rockefeller Foundation is also contributing just under $1 million to help cities launch the effort.

Cities will report back every two years on progress toward protecting residents from heat, said Emilia Carrera, the foundation’s director of health. Key metrics will include the establishment of cooling centers, the design of cooler urban spaces and updated building codes.

“Mayors see these challenges very closely,” Carrera said. “They have a fresher perspective and an ability to respond more quickly.”

Hannah Machado, an urbanist and climate researcher in the City +2°C Program at the Center for Urban Studies at Insper Research Institute in Sao Paulo, said cities have a long way to go to adapt to the changing climate.

"Especially because the effects of extreme climate events are felt in cities,” she said.

Cities, however, have reduced emissions faster than national governments, according to the C40 group. The group's cities said they have cut emissions five times faster than the global average.

“In this year of major geopolitical shifts, that’s an understatement, city leadership has become even more important,” said Catherine McKenna, Canada's former climate minister who also served at the U.N. as the chair of the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

A boat moves through Guajara Bay ahead of the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit, in Belem, Brazil, Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Police work ahead of the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit in Belem, Brazil, Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

A boat moves through Guajara Bay and historic city of Belem, Para state, Brazil, Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Police operate on security routes in the city of Belem, Para state, Brazil, Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

FILE - People ride bikes near signage for the upcoming COP30 U.N. Climate Summit in Belem, Brazil, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz, File)

FILE - Mayor of London Sadiq Khan attends a tech event at the John Randle Centre in Lagos, Nigeria, July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drones blasted apartment buildings and the power grid in the southern Ukraine city of Odesa in an overnight attack that injured six people, including a toddler and two other children, officials said Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed confidence in his country's eventual victory in the nearly four-year war against its neighbor.

Four apartment buildings were damaged in the Odesa bombardment, according to regional military administration head Oleh Kiper. The DTEK power provider said two of its energy facilities had significant damage. The company said 10 substations that distribute electricity in the region have been damaged in December.

Russia has escalated attacks on urban areas of Ukraine. As its invasion approaches a four-year milestone in February, it has also intensified targeting of energy infrastructure, seeking to deny Ukrainians heat and running water in the bitter winter months.

Between January and November, more than 2,300 Ukrainian civilians were killed and more than 11,000 were injured, the United Nations said earlier in December. That was 26% higher than in the same period in 2024 and 70% higher than in 2023, it said.

There are renewed diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.

U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday and announced that a settlement is “closer than ever before." The Ukrainian leader is due to hold talks next week with European leaders supporting his efforts to secure acceptable terms.

Despite progress in peace negotiations, which he didn't mention, Putin reaffirmed his belief in Russia’s eventual success in its invasion during his traditional New Year’s address.

He gave special praise to Russian troops deployed in Ukraine, describing them as heroes “fighting for your native land, truth and justice.”

“We believe in you and our victory,” Putin said, as cited by Russian state news agency Tass.

The Russian Defense Ministry said 86 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over Russian regions, the Black Sea and the illegally annexed Crimea peninsula.

Russia’s Defense Ministry released a video of a downed drone that it said was one of 91 Ukrainian drones involved in an alleged attack this week on a Putin residence in northwestern Russia, a claim Kyiv has denied as a “lie.”

The nighttime video showed a man in camouflage, a helmet and a Kevlar vest standing near a damaged drone lying in snow. The man, his face covered, talks about the drone. Neither the man nor the Defense Ministry provided any location or date.

The video and claims could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials.

Ukrainian officials have denied the allegations of an attack on Putin’s lakeside country residence and called them a ruse to derail progress in peace negotiations.

Maj. Gen. Alexander Romanenkov of the Russian air force claimed that the drones took off from Ukraine’s Sumy and Chernihiv regions. At a briefing where no questions were allowed, he presented a map showing the drone flight routes before they allegedly were downed by Russian air defenses over the Bryansk, Tver, Smolensk and Novgorod regions.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, called the Russian allegations “a deliberate distraction” from peace talks.

Zelenskyy said Romania and Croatia are the latest countries to join a fund that buys weapons for Ukraine from the United States.

The financial arrangement, known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL, pools contributions from NATO members, except the United States, to purchase U.S. weapons, munitions and equipment.

Since it was established in August, 24 countries are now contributing to the fund, according to Zelenskyy. The fund has received $4.3 billion, with almost $1.5 billion coming in December, he said on social media.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Security Service carried out a drone strike on a major Russian fuel storage facility in the northwestern Yaroslavl region early Tuesday, according to a Ukrainian security official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Long-range drones struck the Temp oil depot in the city of Rybinsk, part of Russia’s state fuel reserve system, the official told The Associated Press. Rybinsk is about 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

A previous version of this story was corrected to give the timing of the alleged attack on Putin's residence as late Sunday and early Monday.

Katie Marie Davies in Leicester, England, contributed to this story.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This image made from undated video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, shows a downed drone at an undisclosed location that it said was one of the Ukrainian drones involved in an alleged attack on a residence of President Vladimir Putin this week – a claim Kyiv has denied as a "lie". (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

This image made from undated video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, shows a downed drone at an undisclosed location that it said was one of the Ukrainian drones involved in an alleged attack on a residence of President Vladimir Putin this week – a claim Kyiv has denied as a "lie". (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

This image made from undated video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, shows a man in camouflage standing by a downed drone at an undisclosed location that it said was one of the Ukrainian drones involved in an alleged attack on a residence of President Vladimir Putin this week – a claim Kyiv has denied as a "lie". (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this image made from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025, a Russian Army soldier fires from D-30 howitzer towards Ukrainian positions in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)