MEXICO CITY, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Mexico City mayor Marcelo Ebrard was voted to lead the World Council of Mayors on Climate Change, which works on the sidelines of the ongoing UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, Mexico City officials said Wednesday.

    Ebrard was named because of Mexico City's pioneering anti-emissions programs, including the metrobus, the zero-emissions corridor and green roofs.

    In his acceptance speech, Ebrard said 50 percent of the world's population live in big cities, even though they occupy only 1 percent of the world's territory.

    He said city dwellers have a special responsibility to fight climate change, because cities produce 75 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

    Mexico City is in the run-up to hosting the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2010.

Special report: Global Climate Change