By Maria Balouktsi (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, DE)
It is broadly accepted that cities have a crucial role to play in delivering GHG reductions and many initiatives already exist. However, more needs to be done in policy and practice to coordinate, facilitate and accelerate the role of cities in delivering substantial mitigation.
Although recent pledges by individual national governments represent a major advancement for global mitigation efforts, they fall far short of meeting the Paris Agreement goal of limiting the global average temperature rise to well below 2 °C, compared to preindustrial levels, let alone the 1.5 °C target (Carbon Brief, 2021). It is now widely recognised that cities can potentially make a significant difference in global decarbonisation. Activities taking place in cities account for more than 70% of global emissions (IEA, 2008).The ‘city’ is not only an important object of assessment and level to act, but also a dense network of actors and agents of change (Balouktsi, 2020). Collaborations with city administrations, local businesses, and civil society may facilitate the work of governments in delivering ambitious emission reductions.
Furthermore, cities create space for systemic change. To prevent a 1.5 °C rise, actions are needed across every sector and area of activity. Cities can serve as living laboratories of climate actions and city governments can demonstrate climate leadership by experimenting with a range of innovative policies. In this regard, city governments can bring “on board” and collaborate with other stakeholders operating in cities including businesses, finance sectors, universities and civil society groups, especially those who represent vulnerable groups (Klinsky and Mavrogianni, 2020). Through this bottom-up process, important lessons can be drawn from experiences and challenges on the ground.
Equally important, cities can also use their collective power to level up national ambitions. There are already examples of cities demonstrating this power. For example, in reaction to President Trump’s 2017 decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, hundreds of US cities publicly committed to continue with delivering emission reductions through coalitions such as Climate Mayors, We Are Still In and America’s Pledge. In South Korea more than 200 local governments in 2020 collectively declared a climate emergency (Greenpeace, 2020), which urged the central government to pledge carbon neutrality by 2050 some months later.
In conclusion, city administrations and their ability to trigger action by citizens and other local actors can contribute to climate protection in the spirit of UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production. Cities should be recognized even more as a specific level of climate action and leadership. Focused efforts are needed to understand more broadly and track cities’ progress towards their own commitments and how this contributes to national ambition.
Balouktsi, M. (2020). Carbon metrics for cities: production and consumption implications for policies. Buildings and Cities, 1(1), 233–259. http://doi.org/10.5334/bc.33
Carbon Brief. (2021). UN: New national climate pledges will only cut emissions ‘by 2%’ over next decade. https://www.carbonbrief.org/un-new-national-climate-pledges-will-only-cut-emissions-by-2-over-next-decade
Climate Chance. (2021). Global synthesis report on local climate action: assessing climate action led by local and subnational governments. https://www.climate-chance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/local-action-report-2021-eng_vdef-1.pdf
Greenpeace. (2020). 226 South Korean local governments declare climate emergency. https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/43507/226-south-korean-local-governments-declare-climate-emergency/
ICLEI. (2021). ICLEI’s Climate neutrality framework: accelerating integrated climate action for sustainable urban development. https://e-lib.iclei.org/publications/ICLEIs_Climate_Neutrality_Framework.pdf
IEA. (2008). Energy use in cities. In: World Energy Outlook. Paris: International Energy Agency & Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Klinsky, S. and Mavrogianni, A. (2020). Climate justice and the built environment. Buildings and Cities, 1(1), 412–428. http://doi.org/10.5334/bc.65
UNFCCC. (2021). Race to zero campaign. https://unfccc.int/climate-action/race-to-zero-campaign
C40. (2018). Consumption-based GHG emissions of C40 cities. https://www.c40.org/researches/consumption-based-emissions
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