How to Scale Up Nature-based Solutions for Adaptation
How to Scale Up Nature-based Solutions for Adaptation
The new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report highlights the enormous potential of nature to reduce the risks of climate change and build resilience. Political momentum is building for this approach. For example, 137 countries committed in 2021 to collectively end forest loss and land ...
6 Cities and Local Governments Accelerating Zero Carbon Buildings
6 Cities and Local Governments Accelerating Zero Carbon Buildings
While building construction and operations are among the largest contributors to climate change, accounting for nearly 40% of energy-related CO2 emissions globally, they also remain the most cost-effective climate mitigation solution available. Every $1 invested in efficiency saves $2 in ...
5 Ways to Cut Oil and Gas Use Through Clean Transportation
5 Ways to Cut Oil and Gas Use Through Clean Transportation
There’s never been a better time to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Oil and gas prices are skyrocketing as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with gas prices exceeding $4 a gallon in the United States in March 2022 ...
Strategic City Planning with Nature? Assessing Urban Biodiversity in San José, Costa Rica
Strategic City Planning with Nature? Assessing Urban Biodiversity in San José, Costa Rica
Costa Rica is world-renowned for its biodiversity, and eco-tourism is a large contributor to the national economy and local livelihoods. Many visitors may catch only a glimpse of Costa Rica’s cities through a car window while being whisked between the ...
3 Essentials to Make Climate Action Stick
3 Essentials to Make Climate Action Stick
The last decade was defined by commitments to tackle the climate crisis. It began with a slow trickle and ended in a torrent of countries, cities and companies announcing goals to end deforestation, shift away from coal, transition to electric vehicles and ...
Bringing Actionable Climate Adaptation Data to More Cities
Bringing Actionable Climate Adaptation Data to More Cities
A river runs through it, but drought and fire are among the critical threats facing the city of Vitacura, home to 85,000 people on the periphery of Chile’s capital, Santiago. Five years on from a forest fire and regularly recording ...
Curitiba Is Evolving But Remains a Model for Urban Sustainability
Curitiba Is Evolving But Remains a Model for Urban Sustainability
I recently had the pleasure of re-visiting Curitiba, Brazil, thanks to an invitation from the Smart Cities Expo. I made my first pilgrimage in 2000, when Bogotá was implementing its bus rapid transit system, Transmilenio, and returned twice after that. ...
Transforming Bole Road in Addis Ababa to Improve Safety and Accessibility
Transforming Bole Road in Addis Ababa to Improve Safety and Accessibility
In Addis Ababa, road traffic crashes kill more than 400 people every year. This is largely due to unsafe street design that prioritizes vehicles over pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users. With the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for ...
6 Takeaways from the 2022 IPCC Climate Change Mitigation Report
6 Takeaways from the 2022 IPCC Climate Change Mitigation Report
With every fraction of a degree of global warming, climate change impacts will intensify. In the latest installment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, 278 scientists from 65 countries find that the world should peak GHG ...
Data As a Force to Shape Future Urban Mobility
Data As a Force to Shape Future Urban Mobility
The sheer volume of data collected globally has grown exponentially. But particularly in developing and emerging countries, major gaps in availability, quality and usability of data lead to a lack of significant resources necessary to face complex urban challenges. The ...