(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
365 Days of Climate Awareness 352 – AR6, Vol. 3, Chap. 8: Urban Systems and Other Settlements [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2022-07-31
The urban share of GHG emissions increased from 56% to 62% between 2000 and 2015, though this increase was unevenly distributed around the world, occurring more in developing regions where cities have been rapidly growing. The same was observed in per-capita urban emissions, where the largest increase occurred in developing countries as they built out their infrastructure. Both trends are expected to continue, and represent one of our largest opportunities for mitigation.
Many cities are built in vulnerable locations, at low elevation, along coasts and rivers. Furthermore, most developing nations are themselves particularly vulnerable to global warming, being in or near the tropics. For these reasons mitigation and adaptation strategies must be combined, achieving not only low-carbon energy sources and efficient uses, but also employing flood protection and more ecologically-minded freshwater delivery systems.
Decarbonizing cities will require large-scale transformations of existing systems, in three main efforts:
Reducing energy consumption in all sectors; Electrifying as much as possible and switching to zero-carbon energy sources; Enhancing carbon uptake (i.e. planting trees).
Cities cannot effectively decarbonize by focusing only on emissions within their city limits. Taking supply chains and out-of-city residents into account, efficiency and no-carbon energy sourcing must reach beyond the city’s limits to be effective.
It will be easier to build low- and no-carbon systems in still-developing cities than to convert existing metropolitan areas, though the problem will be funding in those typically poorer (still developing) nations and the political and social will to dramatically change development plans. Restructuring existing cities, even where money to invest exists, will require huge political and social efforts. But the potential in creating more ecologically-minded green and blue spaces within cities, and replacing existing infrastructure with more efficient and lower-carbon sources, could reduce GHG emissions by 23-26% by 2050.
Tomorrow: buildings.
Be brave, be steadfast, and be well.
Source:
IPCC 6th Assessment Report, Vol. 3, Chap. 8
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/31/2113529/-365-Days-of-Climate-Awareness-352-AR6-Vol-3-Chap-8-Urban-Systems-and-Other-Settlements
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
