Industries and cities need to work together to battle climate change, rather than developing disparate initiatives to do so, Cisco Systems Chairman and CEO John Chambers said Wednesday at the Connected Urban Development Global Conference in San Francisco.

The meeting drew 150 international representatives, energy officials and IT executives, reports InfoWorld. The 18-month-old coalition aims to unite cities and private industry to create a "replicable blueprint" for making urban centers friendlier to the environment.

Spearheading the IT side of things, Cisco is trying to figure out how networking figures into the mix. The coalition is partnering with three cities -- San Francisco, Amsterdam, and Seoul -- to figure out ways technology can help reduce carbon emissions, according to eWEEK.

According to News.com, Chambers said his views on climate change have evolved over the past decade:

It (climate change) is not a question of if. It is. There is no doubt in hardly any of the well-educated minds that if we don't act quickly, we are going to have a tremendous problem on our hands.