Wereldwijd nemen 228 steden voortouw in CO2-reductie

9 juni 2016 – Verspreid over de hele wereld hebben 228 steden het voortouw genomen in de strijd tegen klimaatverandering. Ze hebben getekend voor klimaatdoelen en concrete maatregelen voor opgeteld 439 miljoen stedelingen.

De Nederlandse steden die meedoen zijn Amsterdam en Rotterdam.

Uit het persbericht van Worldwatch Institute
‘(…) Over 200 cities have set greenhouse gas reduction goals or targets. Action in these cities, which represent a combined population of 439 million people, could propel countries to meet their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)—the national greenhouse gas reduction pledges embodied in the Paris Agreement. According to Can a City Be Sustainable?, the latest edition of the annual State of the World series from the Worldwatch Institute, cities and their inhabitants are playing a lead role in achieving global climate action goals.

“The challenge over the next several decades is an enormous one,” write Michael Renner and Tom Prugh, contributing authors and co-directors of the report. “This requires not change around the edges, but a fundamental restructuring of how cities operate, how much they consume in resources and how much waste they produce, what they look like, and how they are structured.”

Growing numbers of cities have pledged themselves to climate commitments and sustainability goals. (…) It is no surprise that cities collectively account for a large share of greenhouse gas emissions, because they concentrate economic activity. But cities vary widely in their per capita emissions. Rotterdam in the Netherlands, for example, emitted 29.8 tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent per capita in 2005, whereas Paris emitted just 5.2 tons per capita. Many variables, such as climate, urban form, and primary energy source, affect a city’s level of emissions. Economic factors, such as the wealth and income of residents and the level and structure of economic activity, also play a major role.

“Only demand-side policies that succeed in sharply reducing energy consumption in transport, buildings, waste handling, and agriculture can address the urgent need to decarbonize energy,” write Renner and Prugh. “It is cities that must step up to the front lines of that battle.” (…)

Worldwatch Institute’s Can a City Be Sustainable? (State of the World) examines the core principles of sustainable urbanism and profiles cities that are putting them into practice. (…)’

Bronnen
Worldwatch Institute, 7 juni 2016: Hundreds of Cities Commit to Combating Emissions
Boek: Can a City Be Sustainable? (bestellen $ 25; inhoudsopgave)
Rapport met de lijst met steden
Foto FluxEnergie/© Paul Tolenaar