“All eyes” will be on the world’s national governments and the new climate reduction goals they’ll agree to at the Copenhagen global summit this December. But 20-20 eyesight suggests that cities are equally crucial.
Why?
Cities are now home to half the world’s population. Add up the carbon generated by the power plants that serve them, the emissions of their factories, office buildings, homes, cars, trucks and machines, plus the farms it takes to grow the food to feed them and what do you find? Cities account for an astounding 80 percent of the world’s total output of greenhouse gases.
And if you count sheer economic might, cities are a key global force – and carbon-emitting force. Compare their productive output with nation-states and multinational corporations and urban areas actually account for 37 of the world’s largest 100 economies, according to a study by Daniel Hoornweg and Perinaz Bhada of the World Bank.
But it’s also true – the more global warming impacts the world, the more calamitous the potential impacts on cities across the continents.
Storm surges and rising seas may engulf large sections of urban low-lying areas. The lives of city dwellers may also be jeopardized by truncated food supply chains, disabled fresh water or electric sources, and crippling heat waves.
So, one asks, how could cities not be among the top players and negotiators in the Copenhagen sessions?
At a minimum, argues the advocacy group ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, along with others such as United Cities and Local Governments, Metropolis, and the World Mayors Council on Climate Change, the Copenhagen agreement should “recognize the role and experience of cities and local governments in tackling climate change mitigation and adaptation.”
And it’s true – a big part of the struggle for a global low-carbon, climate-resilient future is already occurring at the city level. National governments can and should set climate reduction targets and help cities technically and financially.
But ultimately, notes Hoornweg, “civilization is defined by interactions at the city level. National governments may write up the climate game rules, but the athletes – the cities – are charged to go out and perform.”
A September conference that Hoornweg chaired focused on the importance of strong, committed mayors and the crucial role of engaged citizens.
For example, Amman, Jordan, experiencing carbon-spewing sprawl development and massive traffic congestion, decided it needed a metropolitan growth plan to reduce its urban footprint. Youth were engaged, forming a pressure group called “Interruptions” (of the status quo development pattern).
Now, Amman’s growth is channeled into vacant or lightly developed city sectors, “green zones” are being created through high-density, mixed-use neighborhoods, and money saved on reduced expansion is going into expanded public transit.
Jakarta, Indonesia, which experienced a severe 2007 flood, is rebuilding dikes, breakwaters and canals, but also engaging local communities with a “One Man, One Tree” goal and campaign.
Durban, South Africa, a high-immigration coastal city of 3.5 million people – many of them earning less than $2 a day and 1 million without access to piped water – is trying multiple experiments with conservation technologies (such as growing algae in its sewerage outflow). Flood defensive measures are under way, neighborhood by neighborhood, and the city reports it’s learned much greater progress is possible with active engagement of citizens.
The World Bank and many nonprofit groups are actively advising cities on their climate strategies. Plus, an array of multinational engineering, energy, information technology and consulting firms are actively involved.
A number of them – Cisco, IBM, Arup, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Accenture and GE Energy – were at the World Bank conference.
Each firm has its own commercial goals, but all said climate progress depends not just on technology but on courageous city leadership that reaches out proactively to train and inform citizens.
Accenture’s surveys, said Greg Parston of the consulting firm, show “citizens are a lot smarter, better informed on climate issues that we in private business or government give them credit for.” Citizens, he said, “can be real sources, productive assets.” And all need to be heard, said Gary Lawrence of the engineering firm Arup: “No progress is possible without meeting the needs of the poor first.”
Chicago offered the World Bank conferees the most dazzling citywide climate action record. Among the actions spurred by Mayor Richard Daley: massive tree plantings focused in severe “heat island” areas, handsome street medians that cool with leaf cover while revitalizing neighborhoods, America’s most ambitious green-roof building surge, faster building permits for “green” buildings, and new building facades to withstand predicted 100-degree heat.
But again, it’s people: Chicago created a climate task force with business, labor and environmental group members, holding summits across the city and soliciting citizens’ ideas.
New, complementary carbon-reducing measures, said Sadhue Johnston, Chicago’s chief environmental officer, crop up as citizens get involved and plans are implemented – a clear reminder as we approach Copenhagen to note again the role of cities as important inventors of a low-carbon, more sustainable world.
Neal Peirce’s e-mail address is nrp@citistates.com.
