Photo: Steven Buss

Low carbon cities can reduce emissions by 90 percent

19 September 2019

by tom.w

Further carbon reduction measures in cities could reduce urban emissions by almost 90 percent and support 87 million jobs worldwide by 2030, a report by the Coalition for Urban Transitions has found.

The release of the Climate Emergency, Urban Opportunity report comes ahead of the UN secretary-general’s Climate Action Summit in New York next week.

Speaking at its launch, Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles said: “While the Trump administration is actively pulling us back in the fight against climate change, mayors and cities are still doing the work that serves our residents and our futures.”

Garcetti elaborated how Los Angeles has been working on reducing its carbon footprint, from expanding its reliance on solar power to creating jobs in electric and green transport.

The report outlined that existing technologies, such as electric buses, could deliver over half the emissions cuts needed to keep global temperature rises stable.

In response, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that while achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 was “possible and realistic”, action and collaboration were needed between city and national governments.

Climate Emergency, Urban Opportunity is the culmination of a three-year research effort by a coalition of 50 global research institutes, networks of national and city governments and non-governmental organisations.

Pledges to cut emissions have increased dramatically in recent years, and to date over 800 cities worldwide have declared a climate emergency.

On Wednesday, the mayors of five cities–Amsterdam, Austin, Berlin, Jakarta, and Liverpool–committed to procure only zero-emission buses from 2025, and ensure a major area of their city is zero emission by 2030.

The ambitious pledge is part of C40’s Green and Healthy Streets Declaration–which to date has 34 member cities covering a population of 165 million people.

“This is a key step towards our ambition to becoming a zero carbon city by 2040, and we are determined to play our part in tackling climate change and air pollution–while making our community cleaner, greener and healthier,” said Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region.

From next year, Liverpool will become the first city in northern England to trial hydrogen buses following a successful £6.4 million bid to the government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles.

C40 also announced that two new cities joined its Net Zero Carbon Buildings Declaration this week, with Oslo and Heidelberg committing to make all new buildings net zero by 2030 with ultra-efficient energy use and renewable sources.

The news comes as the C40 World Mayors Summit is set to take place in Copenhagen, 9 – 12 October.

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