Cities Are Surprising Leaders in Forest Conservation
Cities Are Surprising Leaders in Forest Conservation
The world’s forests face a dire threat. Each year, 6 to 9 million hectares (15 to 22 million acres, an area roughly the size of Denmark) of forests are permanently cleared and many millions more are degraded. But many decisions affecting forests ...
5 Issues to Watch at Climate Week 2021
5 Issues to Watch at Climate Week 2021
World leaders are gathering in New York this week and next for the UN General Assembly meeting (UNGA76) and Climate Week. The two major events come at a critical moment for climate action. The world is facing an emergency. Nearly ...
Saving Public Transportation and the Untapped Potential of Listening
Saving Public Transportation and the Untapped Potential of Listening
The COVID-19 pandemic has made existing knowledge about how, why and where people travel largely obsolete. Even as some cities recover, travel patterns have changed. One thing is clear: around the world, public transport ridership declined precipitously and has not ...
‘Code Red for Humanity’: Sinking Indian Cities
‘Code Red for Humanity’: Sinking Indian Cities
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warns, “India will see increased heat waves and heavy rainfall events, while glaciers will melt further, along with more compound events from rising sea-levels like flooding.” The report further states that “unequivocal human ...
Expanding Mexico City’s Air Quality Forecast To Help Citizens Live More Healthy Lives
Expanding Mexico City’s Air Quality Forecast To Help Citizens Live More Healthy Lives
Today, air quality awareness is common among Mexico City’s residents. People with respiratory conditions are consulting the official reports of the Atmospheric Monitoring System (SIMAT, for its Spanish acronym) before engaging in outdoor activities more frequently. Education authorities are aware of pollution ...
How to Build Smart, Zero Carbon Buildings – and Why it Matters
How to Build Smart, Zero Carbon Buildings - and Why it Matters
Reducing carbon emissions in buildings will be critical to achieving the Paris climate goals and achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Buildings represent 39% of global greenhouse gas emissions, including 28% in operational emissions and 11% in building materials and construction. Global building floorspace ...
To Advance a Clean Energy Transition, US Cities and Corporations Should Collaborate
To Advance a Clean Energy Transition, US Cities and Corporations Should Collaborate
U.S. cities and corporations recognize that renewable energy is the future. More than 200 U.S. local governments have committed to power their communities with 100% renewable energy, and more than 300 leading U.S. corporations have become members of the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance, ...
Improving Water Security Helps Reduce the Gender Gap in Mexico City
Improving Water Security Helps Reduce the Gender Gap in Mexico City
Water for human consumption is increasingly inaccessible, due to poor management, degradation of water sources, the effects of climate change and more. Marginalized groups — such as minorities, rural communities and women — are disproportionately affected by water security issues, and women often play a key ...
How Cities Can Rethink Housing After COVID-19
How Cities Can Rethink Housing After COVID-19
When the world shut down last March, the urban housing conversation took on a radically different hue. Suddenly, housing was a public health concern – which, of course, it always had been. Where you live, and under what conditions, appeared ...
5 Big Findings from the IPCC’s 2021 Climate Report
5 Big Findings from the IPCC’s 2021 Climate Report
Headlines related to recent extreme weather appear to come out of a science fiction book: Even the richest countries in the world can’t control widespread fires — they’re even burning in the Arctic. Deadly flooding in Germany and Belgium in July 2021 completely washed away buildings ...