At the beginning of February, the Recife City Hall sent a Climate Change Bill to the City Council, establishing Recife's Sustainability and Climate Change Mitigation Policy.

According to Mayor Geraldo Julio, the measure is part of a series of actions being carried out by the Recife City Hall through the commitment affirmed by Brazil in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Among these measures, the work carried out with ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, through the Urban LEDS Project, stands out, and it forms a significant part of the bill presented by the City Hall.

Among the project's main guidelines are strategic development for reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, integrating sectoral policies for social, economic, urban, and environmental planning and development; measures to prevent and reduce the formation of heat islands; prioritization of public transportation over individual transportation, among others.

It is also part of the City Hall's objective, through the launch of the Climate Change Bill, to ensure the maintenance of emission levels for Greenhouse Gases, compensating for and/or repairing the damage already done. The proposed targets are based on a municipal inventory that will contain the projected volume of GHG emissions until the year 2020.

The first greenhouse gas emissions inventory is scheduled for release in March of this year, and will be based on data from 2012. The inventory is being conducted by the Recife City Hall, through the Secretary of the Environment, and has ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability as a partner. The city of Recife will be the first in Northeast Brazil to present a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory.

Watch the video of the Mayor of Recife.