Posts in the 'Energy + Climate Change' category
Cities have proven themselves to be necessary in combating climate change; however, the current trajectory for urban growth is still an unsustainable path and carbon emissions are already expected to surpass thresholds considered acceptable. One of the largest problems is ...
Last September, New York was filled with optimism as heads of state and government officials adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) during the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit (25-27 September, 2015). Members of the urban development community also met in ...
For the first time in a long time, the color of Beijing’s sky was a perfect azure blue. From August 20 to September 3, the city’s clear sky offered a breath of fresh air for residents, and gave many a ...
Yesterday, the number of US cities pledging to reduce emissions with the Compact of Mayors nearly doubled. With 19 cities in the U.S. already signed onto the Compact—a global coalition of mayors dedicated to climate action—this most recent move brings the ...
3.7 million people. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this is the number of individuals who die each year due to air pollution. At this rate, simple math dictates that more than 120 million people will die because of outdoor ...
Though our planet is home to one hundred and ninety independent nations, the UN Climate Conference in Paris this December reminds us that all countries share a single, collective future. Indeed, in order to keep the global temperature rise from ...
Nossa Cidade (“Our City”), from TheCityFix Brasil, explores critical questions for building more sustainable cities. Every month features a new theme. Leaning on the expertise of researchers and specialists in WRI’s sustainable urban mobility team in Brazil, the series will feature in ...
In September, Sam Adams will travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the Mayors´ Summit and the Cities & Transport International Congress. Adams will also participate in the session “Cities in the new climate economy,” where he will discuss the possibilities for ensuring ...
While cities need to address energy and climate challenges, national governments can play a critical role in enabling local action. As ministers from 23 countries highlighted at the Clean Energy Ministerial in Merida, Mexico last May, national governments can provide ...
The World Summit Climate & Territories (#WSCT) gathered 800 local decision makers in Lyon, France, July 1-2, 2015. In the lead up to COP21 (the 21st Conference of the Parties)—one of the most important climate meetings of the year—mayors and ...
Climate-smart actions—such as investing in public transport and building efficiency—could generate $17 trillion dollars in net savings for cities by 2050 and cut annual greenhouse gas emissions by more than the annual emissions of Japan and Russia combined. Furthermore, with ...
From the breakdown of conventional ways of creating and sharing wealth to rising temperatures and increasingly extreme weather events, linear models of development are no longer providing an answer to the pressing challenges that the world is facing. At least, ...
Last year, the African Union—an assembly of 54 African nations—formally committed to ending hunger in Africa by 2025. This is incredibly ambitious, considering one out of every four people in sub-Saharan Africa is undernourished. The majority of the 800 million ...
Given our increasingly complex and dynamic world, cities need to be continuously innovating in order to solve pressing social and environmental problems. Many cities worldwide are growing rapidly, and by 2050 it is estimated that 70 per cent of the world’s ...
Yesterday was an incredibly significant day for climate change action. Not only did the highly anticipated release of Pope Francis’ Climate Change Encyclical, which calls for people worldwide—regardless of religious affiliation—to make more sustainable lifestyle and consumption choices, inspire action ...
