Climate change alarm bell rung; action agenda outlined for cities

Monday’s widely covered release of a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) outlining the climate change impacts that could be avoided by limiting  global warming to 1.5°C sounded an alarm bell of scenarios that could ensue if no corrective action is taken. The report includes a summary for policy makers and finds that limiting global warming would require rapid and far-reaching transitions in land, energy, industry and cities. Another report from IPCC released earlier and overshadowed by the global impact report, focuses on specific ways cities around the world could develop a strategic framework to cope with the impacts of climate change. The Cities IPCC report contains input from more than 700 scientists, policy researchers, civic leaders and practitioners from across the planet in a wide range of disciplines, and includes a research and action agenda.

The simultaneous needs for climate adaptation and risk mitigation are growing increasingly evident around the world, including in the United States. Rather than repeating more calls for alarm, the report focuses on the knowledge gaps facing cities, future research topics to inform more effective policy, and broad pathways of action for urban environments and populations.

More than 20 research needs and action items are described across six topical areas encompassing urban systems responses to climate change (see graphic below).  The areas include informality, urban planning & design, built and blue/green infrastructure, sustainable consumption & production, finance, and uncertainty.

Additionally, the report synthesizes CitiesIPCC conference participants’ recommendations concerning important issues for coordination, research design and governance, data gathering, reporting and future implementation of any climate change strategy. 

CitiesIPCC organizers “invite all those working to address climate change in cities to take up and build from this Research and Action Agenda, integrating perspectives of their constituencies, and tailor the findings from this Conference to the contexts of different cities.”  Short and long versions of the agenda are available here.