{"id":14129,"date":"2013-06-26T18:26:28","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T18:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leedpoints.com\/?guid=fa3b0d6b7dd52402c40c255deabfeed6"},"modified":"2013-06-26T18:26:28","modified_gmt":"2013-06-26T18:26:28","slug":"climate-changes-upside-wealthier-healthier-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/climate-changes-upside-wealthier-healthier-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate change’s upside: Wealthier, healthier cities"},"content":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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While national governments struggle to establish an agreed global climate deal, many of the world’s largest cities have been taking action to combat the effects of a changing climate. As a result, these cities are cutting their carbon footprint, reporting annual energy savings of up to $13 million, and their residents are benefiting from healthier living and better business environments. These and other findings were published in June in a new report from CDP<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Wealthier, healthier cities” utilizes analysis by AECOM<\/a> and is presented with CDP’s long-standing partner, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group<\/a> (C40). The report is based on the carbon and water strategies disclosed through CDP’s cities program by 110 urban areas spanning every inhabited continent. It shows that savings from improved energy efficiency dominate the advantages that cities are capitalizing on as they respond to climate change and related impacts such as rising energy costs, with nine cities reporting collective savings of $40 million. One of every two actions that cities are taking to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions produced by their municipal operations is dedicated to increasing efficiency. <\/p>\n

Further, the initiatives that cities are taking to reduce emissions across their cities are likely to boost the economy, with 62 percent of these actions having the potential to attract new business investment. Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous city, has already seen the emergence of new industries related to clean technology, including electric and ethanol powered vehicles. Greater Manchester, one of the UK’s largest urban areas, has seen its low-carbon and environmental goods sector grow 4 percent despite the ongoing recession in the UK. <\/p>\n

“We’re seeing expanded participation and evidence of cities better understanding risk avoidance, resilience, and capital investment strategies that create more value, address concerns for human health and link to stronger economic outcomes,” said Gary Lawrence, chief sustainability officer at AECOM (NYSE: ACM<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Having introduced more than 100 kilometers of bicycle paths to decrease private vehicle ownership and limit human contribution to climate change, Buenos Aires is one of the majority of cities implementing environmental initiatives that also have a positive lifestyle impact for their citizens. Some 55 percent of the cities are undertaking emissions reduction actions that promote walking and cycling, directly and indirectly improving public health. <\/p>\n

The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, says: “Saving energy and using our resources more efficiently is absolutely vital to the sustainability, diversity and full recovery of this city’s economy. The green sector represents a new area of expertise and innovation for London, providing jobs and attracting investment while significant CO2 reductions can save businesses substantial sums, improve air quality and make the capital a better place to live and work.”<\/p>\n

Nearly every city in the C40 network of global cities taking action on climate change has participated in the CDP program this year, with many of them leading the way in reporting to CDP for a third consecutive year. “Mayors are dealing head-on with the need to safeguard their populations, infrastructure and economies from the increasingly severe impacts of climate change,” says Rohit Aggarwala, special advisor to the C40 chair, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg<\/a>. “By reporting on their progress, C40 Cities are holding themselves and each other accountable for meeting the targets they set, and continuing to demonstrate unprecedented, global leadership in taking real, measurable actions.”<\/p>\n

CDP is an NGO providing cities, companies and investors with the only global environmental disclosure system, driving corporate and government action to transition to sustainable economies. Conor Riffle, head of CDP’s cities program says: “Cities are hotbeds of innovation, and local governments have been quick to implement many new ways to combat and adapt to climate change and resource scarcity. These leading cities are enjoying multiple paybacks for their economies and communities. National governments should pay close attention.”<\/p>\n

Individual responses from the cities<\/a> are now available on the CDP website. CDP and AECOM have also produced an excellent interactive infographic<\/a> which displays data from all 110 reporting cities, including their greenhouse gas emissions, risks, adaptation actions, and emissions reduction activities. 
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Slideshow photo by by Mathieu Bertrand Struck<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11123,11124,11125,11126,8609,3294,11127,2941],"class_list":["post-14129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-green-building-posts","tag-aecom-case-studies","tag-cdp-report","tag-cities-energy-efficiency","tag-climate-change-and-cities","tag-climate-resiliency","tag-sustainable-buildings","tag-wealthier-healthier-cities","tag-white-papers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14129\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}