Posts tagged with 'emissions'
Cities contribute 70 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, despite accounting for only 2 percent of land use. The UN Climate Summit places cities high on the agenda for creating a sustainable, low-carbon future. Photo by ruimc77/Flickr.
The UN Climate Summit: What's in it for Cities?
City leaders have a key role to play at next week’s UN Climate Summit in New York City, which brings together heads of state, mayors, business leaders, and civil society representatives to build momentum towards an international agenda to tackle ...
The upcoming UN Climate Summit will be an important forum for country and cities leaders to commit to sustainable urban development strategies. Photo by Vernon Tang/Flickr.
Five reasons to watch NYC’s climate summit
Foreword: The upcoming United Nations Climate Summit comes at a critical time for cities worldwide. Cities already account for 70% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and between 2011 and 2030, urban areas are expected to gain 1.4 billion people. ...
Ljubljana recently won the European Green Capital 2016 Award based on its comprehensive approach to sustainable development, which has transformed urban life in the past decade while minimizing the city's environmental impact. Photo by Rhobinn/Flickr.
Sustainable development and integrated planning mark Europe’s new green capital
Ljubljana, Slovenia has won the 2016 European Green Capital Award, given annually by the European Commission to cities that set an example of sustainable urban development best practices. With an ambitious sustainability plan and that has led to significant improvements in the ...
The newly released 2050 Global Calculator illustrates the potentially disastrous impacts of failing to act on climate change, and highlights transport as pivotal to containing global temperatures. Photo by Metrovía/SIBRT.
New data from 2050 Global Calculator indicates sustainable transport critical to combating climate change
Disclaimer: the calculations below are based on a preliminary, beta version of the Global Calculator. To view and explore the final version of the Calculator, visit tool.globalcalculator.org. Experts predict that a 2 degree Celsius rise in world temperatures could have drastic ...
Congestion pricing has the potential to pave the way for more equitable mobility in China's cities. Photo by GuoZhongHua/Shutterstock.
Congestion pricing can make Beijing a more equitable city
China’s capital city of Beijing is already home to 5.4 million cars, the most of any Chinese city. The country’s rising wealth means that this is a trend unlikely to stop. This rapid motorization has led to many city government ...
Bus rapid transit (BRT) is expanding worldwide, particularly in Asia and Latin America. Watch it grow on BRTdata.org. Photo by EMBARQ Brasil.
New BRT data shows cities’ increased commitment to sustainable transport
The BRTData.org global database of bus rapid transit (BRT) data has recently been updated, and the increased number of BRT lines, as well as the length of those lines, reflects the commitment of cities around the world to provide high-capacity ...
Solar roadways have the potential to decrease carbon emissions and increase the potential of electric cars, all by harnessing the power of the sun. Photo by James Rintamaki/Flickr.
Friday Fun: Following the solar-grid road to sustainable mobility
We’ve come to the convergence of two parallel stories in technology: it is now cheaper to get energy from solar power than from coal-fired power plants in the United States, and everyday citizens are increasingly able to prototype and cheaply manufacture hi-tech goods. ...
Increasing motorization in cities across China is threatening air quality and public health, causing many to ask what reforms can combat the country's growing culture of car-dependency. Photo by ilmari hyvönen/Flickr.
Turning the car around: Decreasing high-emission automobiles is the first step to a greener China
China currently has enough roads and infrastructure to accommodate 300 million vehicles. With car ownership reaching 137 million at the end of 2013, and 74 Chinese cities already reporting pollution surging above the level deemed safe by the World Health Organization (WHO) for over two thirds ...
While cities like São Paulo, Brazil, are expanding the technology available to city leaders, good governance remains pivotal to creating a truly 'smart' city. Photo by Mariana Gil/EMBARQ Brazil.
The difference between data and wisdom: Smart cities have a lot to learn
This article reports on presentations made by Philip Yang, President, URBEM (Urbanism and Urban Studies Institute for the city of Sao Paulo), Jianming Cai, Professor at the Institute of Geographic Sciences & Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Alexandros Washburn Founding Director, Center for ...
Mexico City's car-free Sundays have created a mindset of sustainable mobility that has perpetuated throughout the week. Photo by Carlos Alejandro Figeuroa/Flickr.
Beyond Move in Mexico City: Integrating sustainable mobility into the everyday
This year marks the seventh anniversary of the “Muévete en bici” (Bike Move) program in Mexico City. Every Sunday for the past seven years, the city has closed many of its streets to cars, and opened them up to pedestrians ...
Mumbai, India and Smart Cities
Three key themes from the Bonn climate talks
Editor’s note: Two weeks ago, TheCityFix wrote about the need to include urban mobility as a core tenet of the Bonn climate talks. Cities are the arena in which the regulations formulated at Bonn, and passed at COP 21 in ...
The Buriganga River in the Bangladeshi city of Dhaka provides transport for the city---yet reminds Dhaka's residents of the need to build resiliency into the city as water levels rise. Photo by William Veerbeek/Flickr.
Pitfalls and potential: Climate change vulnerability in Dhaka, Bangladesh
According to the United Nations, temperatures are likely to warm anywhere from 3 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100, and scientists warn that “the world is ill-equipped to deal with the impacts of warming.” To help the lives impacted by ...
New York City, like many cities around the globe, is reshaping the design of its waterfront to be increasingly resilient to rising sea levels and an unpredictable climate. Photo by Stefan Georgi/Flickr.
Planning for Climate Change and the Urban Future
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and ICLEI, the largest worldwide association of local governments, released a study last week showing how climate change has become a priority for cities across the globe. Entitled the “Urban Climate Change Governance Survey,” ...
What future do you want? Photo by Africa Renewal/John Gillespie/Flickr.
TheCityFix’s roadmap to the Bonn climate change negotiations
From June 4 – 19, 2014, environmental leaders, policymakers, and the international climate community will descend on Bonn, Germany for the intersessional negotiation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This event is a chance for leaders ...
Transit-oriented development strategies can help urban areas develop sustainably, uniting land use, transport planning, and urban design to create more people-oriented cities. Pictured: Small businesses and pedestrians at a hub near Mexico City's Metrobús bus rapid transit (BRT) system. Photo by Justin Swan/Flickr.
People-oriented Cities: Demystifying transit-oriented development
The “People-oriented Cities” series – exclusive to TheCityFix and WRI Insights – is an exploration of how cities can grow to become more sustainable and livable through transit-oriented development (TOD). The nine-part series will address different urban design techniques and trends ...
Right Menu Icon