Posts tagged with 'finance'
New Climate Economy Bike Cities
How City Partnerships and a $1 Billion Global Cities Package Could Unlock $17 Trillion in Economic Growth
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 ...
TransMilenio BRT in Bogotá, Colombia. Photo by Mariana Gil/EMBARQ Brazil.
To Subsidize or Not to Subsidize Public Transport: That Is the Question
Subsidizing users’ fares for public transport may sound like a great idea, and often there are good economic reasons for doing so. In all industrialized and many developing countries, urban transport systems are subsidized with public funds in order to ...
Sidewalk in Vancouver, Nossa Cidade
Who Owns Our Sidewalks?
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 ...
Shenzhen TOD
How a Chinese Megacity is Innovating Finance for Transit-Oriented Development
China’s rapid urbanization has dramatically increased the need for public transit infrastructure. To accommodate these changes, it’s estimated that China needs to expand urban rail by at least 3,000 kilometers by 2020—approximately a $4 trillion investment. In Chinese cities, funding ...
Zhengzhou, China HSR Station
How China Can Leverage High-Speed Rail for Compact Urban Development
Many large Chinese cities have developed around transport corridors. Hangzhou and Suzhou, for example, grew wealthy from their position on the Grand Canal, which connected northern and southern China. Today, the country’s high-speed rail (HSR) system is proving to be ...
Connect Karo 2015, New Delhi
Urbanizing India: A Closer Look
From April 15 to 16, 2015 in New Delhi, city and transport leaders from around the world came together for the third annual edition of WRI India’s CONNECTKaro conference. This year’s theme of Smart Cities for Sustainable Development and focused on ...
Habitat III Opening Day
Upcoming Habitat III Conference Offers Opportunity for Leaders to Set a New Urban Agenda
In 1950, fewer than 800 million people lived in urban areas. Today that number is almost 5 billion, and is expected to surpass 6 billion by 2045, according to the UN World Urbanization Prospects. Urban growth—and its related challenges of ...
By using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GPC) to determine the sources of the city’s emissions, Rio de Janeiro was able to set realistic targets to reducing transport emissions. Photo by EMBARQ Brasil/Flickr.
Greening bus fleets requires a range of strategies
In 2012 alone, Latin America saw 131,000 preventable air pollution-related deaths. To reduce emissions and improve air quality, it’s essential that public transit fleets—like buses—become more fuel-efficient. Adopting cleaner fuels—like natural gas or low-sulfur diesel—and upgrading to technologies that produce ...
Urban Expansion in Sao Paulo, Brazil
Why Planning for Expansion Helps Build Sustainable, Equitable cities
Consensus is building around the many benefits of compact cities. Overall, compact cities use fewer resources, produce fewer carbon emissions, and provide better quality of life for their inhabitants than their sprawled counterparts. In rapidly urbanizing countries in the global ...
Reducing building emissions in China
New pilot program aims to expand energy efficiency in Chinese cities
As China urbanizes, buildings in the country’s cities are a growing source of emissions and air pollution. Energy use from public sector buildings rose 15 percent between 2006 and 2010, and heat and electricity from emissions-intensive coal now account for ...
With the right priorities and development strategies, India’s smart cities initiative has the potential to make cities more sustainable, inclusive, and safe. Photo by rebel/Flickr.
What will it take to create smart cities in India?
In June 2014, the Government of India announced its ambitious plan to build smart cities across the country. This plan will be administered by the Ministry of Urban Development, and will focus on building new smart cities and redeveloping existing ...
Leaders at COP20 can explore a range of sources for financing low-carbon urban development including multilateral investment banks, private investors, and innovative initatives like the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions or climate-themed bonds. Photo by Boris G/Flickr.
Three promising pathways to finance sustainable cities
Sustainable, accessible, thriving cities are within our reach. Investing in solutions like energy and building efficiency, integrated public transit and better land use and transit planning can improve health, quality of life and economic opportunities in cities. In fact, the ...
A growing coalition of cities, NGOs, and private companies are advancing building efficiency efforts that save money and greenhouse gas emissions. Photo by Omar Barcena/Flickr.
Unlocking low-carbon growth through energy efficient cities
Urbanization is reshaping the economy, energy systems, and climate of our planet. By 2050, the world’s cities are expected to add 2.5 billion people who will need housing, hospitals, schools, and places to work. Though global greenhouse gas emissions continue ...
Transforming Transportation 2015: Smart Cities for Shared Prosperity. Photo by Mariana Gil/EMBARQ Brasil.
Smart Cities for Shared Prosperity: Announcing Transforming Transportation 2015
The Transforming Transportation 2015 (#TTDC15) conference is fast approaching, and TheCityFix is inviting you to join the discussion! This year’s conference will focus on Smart Cities for Shared Prosperity, and will examine how smart, connected urban mobility can improve quality ...
With Compact of Mayors, cities lead on tackling climate change at U.N. Summit
With Compact of Mayors, cities lead on tackling climate change at U.N. Summit
Last week, cities around the world made bold commitments to confront climate change. The Compact of Mayors, announced at the UN Climate Summit in New York City, convenes cities to set ambitious targets and report their performance transparently. It builds ...
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