Environment

4 mayors from Mississippi River cities attend COP28

WVIK, Quad Cities NPR | By Michelle O'Neill

Published December 11, 2023 at 5:36 PM CST

Four mayors from the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative attended COP28. Dubuque Mayor Brad Cavanaugh is on the far left.

COP28 is the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Dubai.

Dubuque, Iowa Mayor Brad Cavanaugh and three other mayors went as a delegation of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative.

Cavanaugh says several themes emerged, including emissions and electrification.

John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President, is flanked by Dubuque Mayor Cavanaugh and Gina Bell, the city's sustainability director.

Besides Dubuque, the mayors are from Greenville, Mississippi; LaCrosse, Wisconsin; and New Orleans, Louisiana. They met with John Podesta, President Biden's Senior Advisor for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation. Cavanaugh says they talked about how to win federal grants for regional projects.

Cavanaugh also says water was a big topic of conversation, from commerce to pollution. And the mayor shared one of Dubuque's solutions to river flooding, the Bee Branch Creek Restoration.

He and the Mississippi River delegation spent time at COP28 going to workshops and listening to keynote speakers, plus networking with some of the 85,000 people who attended. Dubuque's Director of Sustainability also attended the conference.

The mayors and Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative also announced a few initiatives (click HERE).