Climate Action

Invest in low-carbon cities to protect climate and boost jobs, governments urged

image of New Delhi, India

Governments need to unlock the 'enormous potential' of cities to reduce carbon emissions. Image: Unsplash/Hakan Nural

Anastasia Moloney
Latin America and Caribbean Correspondent, Thomson Reuters Foundation
  • Cutting carbon emissions from energy, transport and construction in cities would bring jobs and savings, and curb climate change, a new report says.
  • The Coalition for Urban Transitions has outlined preventative measures against climate change that governments and city leaders should prioritise.
  • China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa are the six emerging economies which the report focuses on.
  • Implementing such measures could bring $12 trillion in net benefits, based on cost savings alone, by 2050 and create millions of new jobs by 2030.

More COVID-19 recovery spending and public investment is needed for green transport and clean energy in cities, to create jobs, cut planet-heating emissions and limit the damage from climate change, U.N. officials and researchers said on Wednesday.

A report by the Coalition for Urban Transitions, a group of research organisations pushing for more sustainable cities, assessed climate-friendly measures governments and city leaders should prioritise in six emerging economies.

The report found that China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa - which account for a third of global GDP and about 40% of the world's urban population - could cut annual emissions in key urban sectors by up to 96% more than current plans by 2050, by investing in low-carbon initiatives.

Have you read?

Those include retrofitting old buildings to save on energy use, building new energy-efficient homes with rooftop solar panels, and ensuring affordable housing for the poor is connected to public transport.

Mobility must be made cleaner by expanding fleets of electric buses and adding walking and biking lanes, while cities should recycle more materials and waste, the report said.

Governments also need to help cities protect and restore peatland and mangrove ecosystems in and around them, to curb the risk of flooding and coastal storm surges, it added.

Discover

How is the World Economic Forum supporting the development of cities and communities globally?

Implementing such measures could bring $12 trillion in net benefits, based on cost savings alone, by 2050 and create millions of new jobs by 2030 - including 500,000 in Mexico, 8 million in India and 15 million in China, it said.

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed told the online report launch that carbon-neutral, climate-resilient and inclusive cities are essential "to overcome the climate crisis".

Yet only 14% - $2 trillion - of total pandemic stimulus spent in the G20 and 10 other major economies has gone to the energy, transport and waste sectors where cities are best-positioned to implement low-carbon initiatives, the report said.

Less than a third, $544 billion, of that stimulus was green.

"It is time to do better," the report added.

U.N. scientists have said global emissions must fall by about 45% by 2030 from 2010 levels to give the world a good chance of limiting the rise in average temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times.

"Unfortunately current commitments are nowhere near close to what is needed to achieve these targets," Mohammed said. "Carbon dioxide levels are at record highs and extreme wildfires, cyclones, floods and droughts are the new normal."

She urged governments to work with city leaders "to unlock the enormous potential in cities" to cut carbon emissions from energy, transport and construction.

U.N. climate chief Patricia Espinosa noted that cities in the six countries examined in the report produce about 40% of global emissions, but finance was lacking in such nations for low-carbon projects and helping residents, especially the poor, cope better with more extreme weather and rising seas.

By 2030, nearly 1 billion more people will be living in cities, and trillions of dollars will be invested in urban infrastructure, said top climate economist Nicholas Stern.

"Focusing on compact, connected and clean cities ... will be at the heart of achieving climate ambitions," said Stern, chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics.

Loading...
Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Stay up to date:

How to Save the Planet

Related topics:
Climate ActionUrban Transformation
Share:
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Climate Crisis is affecting economies, industries and global issues
A hand holding a looking glass by a lake
Crowdsource Innovation
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
World Economic Forum logo
Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

Our civilization’s survival depends on collective action

Gill Einhorn

December 5, 2024

How metals can help construct more sustainable cities around the world

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum