Think Globally, Act Locally: How Cities Are Leading the Fight Against Climate Change
Photo by Todd Kent
The following policy brief is based on a research poster presented at the 2019 International Conference on Sustainable Development at Columbia University.
The Role of Cities in Climate Action
“It is cities...that will make or break sustainable development.”
Driven by immediate impacts, long-term risks, and the necessary pragmatism of local governing, cities and states are enacting concrete plans and implementing bold policy ideas to combat climate change. Large cities, in particular, are creating community-centered programs focused on GHG reduction targets, adaptive planning and design, environmental justice, and other efforts that align them with national and international climate frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Paris Climate Agreement, and the Green New Deal.
Cities account for only 2-3% of global land area, but represent 55% of the world’s population and produce 70% of CO2 emissions. They are the epicenter of both the climate crisis and its solutions. While city governments are leading the way on climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience, they cannot accomplish their goals alone. To successfully combat climate change, cities will need state and national governments to provide technical support and financing for local, bottom-up solutions.
How Are Cities Mitigating the Impacts of Climate Change?
To assess the impact of city-level climate action, we reviewed the academic literature and collected data for cities across four broad categories:
City membership in formal networks (e.g. C40, Covenant of Mayors, ICLEI)
Identified climate action plans published by cities
Counted verified climate actions taken and/or planned by cities
Assessed the overlap between city-level action and the goals of national and international frameworks (e.g. SDGs, Paris Agreement, Green New Deal)
Our findings support the notion that urban centers are the locus of climate action and make some effort to identify why a local approach to fighting climate change might be superior to a top-down approach.
Building Peer Networks
Networks comprised of cities and smaller municipalities are a catalyst for local climate action. These networks support knowledge management and exchange, resource sharing and coordination, reporting and monitoring standards, lobbying, financing, and research and development efforts.
Sustaining Local Action
As of 2019, there are over 9,200 cities and local governments representing 815 million people that have signed onto climate agreements. These commitments have resulted in more than 20,000 completed or planned climate actions.
Planning for the Present and the Future
Local governments are well-positioned to build consensus and support for action. Their size allows for greater flexibility and responsiveness to citizens’ needs. Their ability to create and implement long-term plans promotes consistency and mitigates some of the uncertainty that we see at the national and international levels.
Working Toward Global Goals
Many cities have explicitly integrated the goals of national and international frameworks into their planning. This is particularly important because research has indicated that success at the local level is integral to achieving national and international climate targets.
How Can Local and National Governments Support City-Level Climate Action?
Based on our findings, we have compiled a set of recommendations for what local, state, and national governments can do to bolster climate action at the city level.
Local and State Governments
Prioritize climate justice and community leadership by
Creating opportunity across all populations
Fostering citizen participation and leadership
Increasing support for community-based programs
Committing to transparency and accessibility
Expand peer networks and ramp up collaboration by
Strengthening peer networks across all levels of government and using them as a conduit for knowledge exchange
Forming new public-private partnerships with schools, businesses, and civil society organizations to integrate climate goals and actions into all aspects of city life
National Governments
Deploy the substantial resources of national governments by
Increasing unrestricted grants to cities and states
Making agency expertise, technology, and infrastructure available to city governments
Providing guidance for scaling up and replicating successful local programs and policies
Sources and Further Reading
Climate Investment Opportunities in Cities (2018). Washington, D.C. International Finance Corporation.
Colenbrander, S., Lindfield, M., Lufkin, J., & Quijano, N. (2018). Financing Low-Carbon, Climate-Resilient cCities. London and Washington, D.C. Coalition for Urban Transitions.
Espey, J., Dahmm, H., & Manderino, L. (2018). Leaving No U.S. City Behind: The U.S. Cities Sustainable Development Goals Index. New York. Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy. (2019). Retrieved August, 2019, from https://www.globalcovenantofmayors.org/.
Gordon, D. J., & Johnson, C. A. (2018). City-Networks, Global Climate Governance, and the Road to 1.5 °C. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 30, 35.
Lee, T., & Jung, H. Y. (2018). Mapping City-to-City Networks for Climate Change Action: Geographic Bases, Link Modalities, Functions, and Activity. Journal of Cleaner Production, 182, 96.
Lynch, A., LoPresti, A., & Fox, C. (2019). The 2019 US Cities Sustainable Development Report. New York. Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Rosenzweig, C., Solecki, W., Romero-Lankao, P., Mehrotra, S., Dhakal, S., Bowman, T., et al. (2015). Climate Change and Cities: Second UCCRN Assessment Report on Climate Change and Cities. New York. Urban Climate Change Research Network, Columbia University.