In Memory of Nicky Gavron, “the Mother of C40”

Tributes to Nicky Gavron, Deputy Mayor of London and a pioneer of city climate action.

Mark Watts and Nicky Gavron © Mark Watts / C40 Cities

Mark Watts, Executive Director, C40 Cities

Nicky Gavron, who passed away peacefully over the weekend, is rightly remembered for a huge range of accomplishments by the thousands of people she inspired and was loved by. At C40 we particularly remember Nicky as the person who inspired the creation of our organisation - indeed I often used to, only semi-jokingly, call Nicky the Mother of C40.

As Deputy Mayor of London for all but one year between 2000 and 2008, Nicky made it her mission to ensure that the new London government had a major focus on environmental protection. In Mayor Ken Livingstone she found a very willing partner. Between them, they introduced a series of 'firsts', from introducing congestion pricing and a low emission zone to London becoming the first metropolis to publish a comprehensive plan for how to tackle climate change.

I was a young adviser to the mayor at the time and it was my job to put many of these ideas into practice. Developing a climate action agenda was particularly tough, because in the early 2000s there just wasn't the depth of data and expertise with which London is now abundantly blessed.

Nicky and I scoured the world to find the cities that were ahead of us - Stockholm, Copenhagen, San Francisco and Toronto among them. The experience was so rewarding that I worked on setting up individual partnership agreements, but typically Nicky thought much bigger and proposed that we establish a new international organisation dedicated to helping cities tackle the climate crisis.

I often wondered where that idea came from and it was only in November last year when I was chatting to Nicky before recording a message for the unveiling of a Pink Plaque in her honour, that she told me. At some point in 2004 (which Nicky would have remembered very precisely if she were alive today for me to ask her) Nicky had been invited by Margaret Beckett, then UK Secretary of State for Environment, to do an after-dinner speech to environment and energy ministers at the G20 Summit in London. That gave her the idea that if nation-states were key to international climate agreements, a lot of the implementation and innovation would happen at the city level and so we needed a climate organisation for cities.

Nicky came back to City Hall to tell Ken and I that we needed to set up a climate network of mayors. That organisation started small with a gathering of officials from 18 cities in London and a staff of two, plus some generous support from the Clinton Foundation (who approached us after hearing Nicky speak about our plans).

Today C40 unites the 100 largest and most influential mayors in the world, representing 600 million people, united around a commitment to halve the use of fossil fuels this decade, creating jobs, opportunities and greater fairness while cutting emissions in line with the Paris Agreement. Three-quarters of C40 cities are cutting emissions faster than their respective national governments. C40 now has a staff of over 450 dedicated professionals, headquartered here in London, to support our members, but we never stop forgetting that it was one tenacious deputy mayor - Nicky Gavron - to whom we owe our entire existence.

Nicky never stopped campaigning even after she retired as a London Assembly member and, indeed, I was due to meet her next week to discuss her drive to protect urban green belts.

Nicky was tenacious, determined, enquiring, always open to new ideas and a true climate action pioneer, as well as being an equally focused campaigner on everything from defending decentralised energy to creating more play areas for children. As Deputy Mayor she was simply unstoppable - many of my working days at City Hall ended late in the evening by being invited into Nicky's office to discuss her latest idea, or simply the one sentence in a policy - knowing she wasn't going to rest until we improved it.

She was also one of the warmest, most caring human beings I have had the honour to call a friend and mentor. She was quite simply one of my heroes. She will be greatly missed by everyone at C40 and we send our love and gratitude to Nicky's daughters, grandchildren and all the family she loved so much.

Nicky Gavron at the launch of C40 and Arup's Urban Rewilding report, in her capacity as a member of the London Rewilding Taskforce © Greater London Authority

David Miller, Former Chair of C40 Cities and Mayor of Toronto

I knew Nicky Gavron as a pioneer in the city-based climate movement and as a lifelong effective, and relentless, climate advocate. London, through Mayor Ken Livingstone, first conceived of the idea of using the voices and the actions of the mayors of the world's major cities to help the world avoid climate breakdown. His insight was based on the advice of Nicky, and Mark Watts.

Amongst other things, Nicky had approached Toronto to second climate staff to London to help Ken's administration learn from a global leader. As in everything Nicky did, she was thorough and complete, and the idea was presented to me as an exciting opportunity for Toronto (and as a fait accompli). That exchange was my first interaction with Nicky and the start of a friendship that grew to become deep over the years. A tremendous Deputy Mayor of London, and highly effective on many environmental issues in addition to climate, she rightfully earned an international profile and credibility in her own right.

Nicky stopped being Deputy Mayor in 2008, but never stopped campaigning, and certainly never stopped being effective. The city-based climate movement owes much to her insight, effectiveness and tenacity. She inspired colleagues like me with her enthusiasm, drive and commitment. We will miss her tremendously.

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