December 31, 2024

Dear mayors, global friends and partners:

The New Year’s bell of 2025 is about to ring, which is the horn of hope. May the dawn of the New Year dispel the gloom of war and economic downturn, and lead us from the coldest weather to a hopeful spring.

Looking back on the past year, we have experienced many challenges and changes together. In such an era full of uncertainty, we have a deeper understanding of the importance of communication and cooperation between cities in promoting global sustainable development. The International Mayors Communication Centre (IMCC) has been committed to promoting dialogue and cooperation between cities around the world, jointly exploring new ways to solve urban problems, and sharing best practices in sustainable development. The vision of the IMCC is to integrate world urban cultures and seek the sustainable development of cities.

Since being granted “special consultative status” by the United Nations in 2017, the IMCC has consciously taken on the obligation to promote the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since 2018, we have persisted in publicizing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through our official website and official WeChat account, during which we have overcome the severe challenges brought by the three-year COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control. By January 2025, we will successfully complete the promotion of 17 SDGs and 169 targets through a total of 374 articles. We showcase four examples from around the world (including China) in each issue, along with new perspectives and solutions to challenges advocated by various UN conferences, international community, and high-end conferences on sustainable development. On the occasion of the New Year, the IMCC presents this series of articles as a New Year’s gift to you! (Enter the official WeChat account of “Green City GCPS” or the official website of the IMCC, and you can see the series of articles.)

http://www.hk-imcc.com/

We are advocates and practitioners of sustainable development. We established the “Open Green City Laboratory” (OGCLab) in Shenzhen, China in 2017. After six years of dedicated research and development, using biodegradable food packaging materials, we have produced a series of tea drinks of various types named “Pachauri Tea,” which can be recycled and refilled, in memory of Dr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, a brave warrior who fought for a lifetime to improve climate change. “Pachauri Tea” will drive the cultivation, production and processing of a series of teas such as Kenyan black tea and Chinese globe flower tea, in a bid to accelerate the achievement of SDG 1, “End poverty in all its forms everywhere,” SDG 3, “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages,” SDG 8, “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all,” SDG 12, “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns,” SDG 15, “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss,” and SDG 17, “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.” The mission of “Pachauri Tea” is to enable people in developing countries and impoverished areas to move towards a dignified green life.

“Pachauri Tea” is a series of tea drinks of various types, which can be recycled and refilled.

Dr. Cai Bin, chief representative of the IMCC in New York, attends the UN’s ninth annual Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (STI Forum) and promotes “Pachauri Tea” at the venue on May 9, 2024.

Harvesters collect fresh tea leaves at a tea land near Nairobi, the capital of Kenya on May 4, 2023. Kenya is the world’s largest exporter of black tea. Photo: Xinhua/ Wang Guansen

The wild globe flowers within a radius of five kilometers in the Site of Xanadu, a World Heritage site in Zhenglan Banner, Inner Mongolia, China, can be used to make scented tea against epidemic viruses. Xanadu, the summer capital of the Yuan Dynasty, was established by Kublai Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan.

In 2025, the IMCC is willing to join hands with mayors and sustainable development stakeholders from various countries to organize various green conferences and events together, focusing on the urgent issues to be addressed in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, promoting cultural exchanges and industrial cooperation between cities, jointly implementing the 169 targets in the Agenda for Sustainable Development, leaving no city behind, and revitalizing the prosperity and partnership of the global community, economy, and environment.

Here, I also sincerely thank the partners, volunteers, and staff who have always supported the IMCC. Thanks to your wisdom and hard work, the IMCC has been able to walk forward despite the wind and rain. May our youth never grow old, our passion last forever, and together we paint a picture of a better and more sustainable world in 2025 and the infinite years to come!

The IMCC was established in Hong Kong, China in 2005. In 2025, it will reach the youthful age of 20. We are willing to sing the Ode to Joy for the world with our youthful vitality, wishing for a world with economic prosperity, civilization progress, and sustainable peace!

Jin Lan

Founder of IMCC