Connecting small and mid-size cities with vital GHG emissions data is the first step in enabling them to take the science-based climate action needed to increase urban resilience and improve the well being of citizens, Šefčovič says. By New Europe Online/KG Leading up to the Global Climate Action Summit, the Global Covenant of Mayors for … read more
The Environmental Insights Explorer calculates emissions from buildings, car trips, and public transport to illustrate how a city’s sustainability efforts are faring. BY ADELE PETERS Looking at a city’s Google Maps data, in combination with other data, a new tool from Google can estimate the carbon footprint of all of its buildings–and the carbon footprint of … read more
Intermediary cities play a unique and crucial role in the fight against climate change. These cities account for 30 percent of the world’s urban population, a figure estimated to rise to 50 percent in 20 years. They also play a primary role in connecting important rural and urban areas to basic facilities and services – and are where we’ll see the most impact from local leaders’ efforts to reduce global warming.
By Melanie Gosling, Correspondent The future we don’t want is already happening with more intense droughts, floods, heat waves, blackouts, food shortages and sea levels gradually rising. It may sound like a post-apocalyptic movie, but delegates to the Adaptation Futures 2018 conference in Cape Town heard that these climate change effects were already happening around … read more
By Hamdi Issawi EDMONTON—As tensions mount between Canada and the U.S. on the trade front, municipal leaders have pledged to work more closely together to fight a common enemy: climate change. On Monday, the United States Conference of Mayors endorsed the so-called Edmonton Declaration, a locally created document that asks municipalities to take a stand on … read more
The next few years will be critical to determine how effectively we will rise to the challenge of protecting our cities, and therefore our planet. But this work can’t be undertaken blindly –we must ensure that our climate mitigation and adaptation strategies are based on sound scientific data and are tackled in an integrated manner with public and private partners.
By Maroš Šefčovič Public-private partnerships are vital to achieving the leap forward, deploying new clean technologies at scale and fast, writes Maroš Šefčovič. Maroš Šefčovič is the European Commission Vice President in charge of the Energy Union and co-chair of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. These days, Sweden and Denmark probably see the … read more
Sign the Edmonton Declaration – a bold call-to-action for cities of all sizes to seriously consider the role of scientific research and data in building ambitious climate action plans. The Declaration, first presented in March in Edmonton, Canada, and further developed throughout the year, brings together policymakers, scientists, businesses and city networks to create a critical new dialogue between these vital groups of climate change stakeholders.