Cap Times: Madison Mayor Rhodes-Conway to serve as chair of U.S. Climate Mayors

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway is the new chair of the U.S. Climate Mayors, a bipartisan network of over 500 mayors across the country committed to climate leadership in their respective cities, the group announced Wednesday.

Rhodes-Conway is the first female leader of Climate Mayors, a group founded in 2014 aimed at creating local climate leadership and building partnerships for federal and global climate action. Hundreds of members have signed the Climate Mayors letters committing to the Paris Agreement and calling on Congress to invest in a green and equitable economic recovery.

Rhodes-Conway described the group as “small but mighty.” But in order to meet the challenges of climate change, she would like to see Climate Mayors grow and tell its stories of action.

“Climate is the defining issue of our time,” Rhodes-Conway said at a Wednesday press conference. “This is a critical time for climate action in cities. The federal government is making unprecedented investments in climate action and, as we all know, cities have long been leaders in actually taking action on climate on the ground.”