Article found in THE WORLD, dated April 4, 2009 In climate change, cities are not the problem but the solution. So concludes a study published in the April of the journal Environment and Urbanization, against the current of the fatalistic view of cities focusing all environmental defects: traffic congestion, endless sprawl, waste piling up pollution and varied.
OAS_AD ('Middle1');
While more than half the world's population now lives in town, the liability of cities in global warming seems overwhelming: they occupy only 2% of the surface the planet, but they concentrate 80% of CO2 emissions and consume 75% of global energy.
The equation is too simple, according to David Dodman, a researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development in London. For beyond the mass effect produced by the overall figures, "Many cities have per capita emissions surprisingly weak," he says in Environment and Urbanization.
Calculated per capita emissions of greenhouse gases of some towns are much lower than the national average. Discharges of New Yorkers are less than one third of the average United States, each Barcelona emits half the greenhouse gas emissions than the Spaniard lambda, just as Londoners are twice better than the British. In Brazil, even the sprawling Sao Paulo and Rio show that per capita emissions do not exceed one third of the average Brazilian. What
encourage the efforts of cities like New York, London, Chicago and Amsterdam, which in recent months have launched ambitious climate plans, or metropolitan area of Curitiba, Brazil, became, with its 4 million residents, a sustainable development model for emerging countries.
The explanation is known, proclaimed in every possible way by urban professionals: a compact city, combining accommodation and activities and served by public transport is less polluting than individual homes scattered based on the automobile reigns. The correlation between low urban density and a high amount of CO2 emissions per capita has been demonstrated. Lighting and heating buildings generates a quarter of all emissions of greenhouse gases in the world and, according to estimates by the World Bank, transport accounts for one third of discharges in urban areas.
"Cities offer a real chance of reducing climate change, said Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Anna Tibaijuka, the report" The state of world cities 2008-2009 ". Cities provide well-designed both economies of scale and population density reduce the per capita demand for resources. Our data show that policies that promote efficient public transportation, which reduces urban sprawl and encourage the use of renewables can significantly reduce the environmental footprint of a city and CO2 emissions. "
For Mr. Dodman, designate cities as culprits of climate change distracts attention from the main emission factor of greenhouse gas emissions: "The real culprits are not the cities themselves, but the lifestyle of residents rich countries, based on consumption. "
Yet, observes the researcher, economic development does not necessarily increase pollution. Thus the city of Tokyo makes it a quantity of greenhouse gas emissions per head equivalent to 45% of the average Japanese, well below the emissions per capita in Beijing or Shanghai, two times higher than the average Chinese.
remains that beyond the virtuous examples, many cities are very far from the guns of sustainable urban planning in the developing countries as in the richest states. "There is always need to drastically reduce emissions if we are to achieve the objectives of the fight against climate change," David Dodman cautions.
Transportation is responsible for 60% of CO2 emissions in Sao Paulo, a metropolis of traffic congestion, against 20% in London or New York, well served by Metro. And the United States, countries suburban sprawl, compact city remains a challenge, while the total area of the hundred largest cities in the country increased by 82% between 1970 and 1990 ...
International organizations have recognized that the climate battle will be played in cities. After the recent mobilization of the OECD and the European Commission, the World Bank organized in late June in Marseille, a symposium on the theme "Cities and climate change."
In return, municipalities claim to the UN a place at the negotiating table on climate. Their credo summarized by the Association Cities and Local Governments: "The solutions to global climate change can only be viable if local governments are not fully integrated into the process of decision making."
Grégoire Allix
OAS_AD ('Middle1');
While more than half the world's population now lives in town, the liability of cities in global warming seems overwhelming: they occupy only 2% of the surface the planet, but they concentrate 80% of CO2 emissions and consume 75% of global energy.
The equation is too simple, according to David Dodman, a researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development in London. For beyond the mass effect produced by the overall figures, "Many cities have per capita emissions surprisingly weak," he says in Environment and Urbanization.
Calculated per capita emissions of greenhouse gases of some towns are much lower than the national average. Discharges of New Yorkers are less than one third of the average United States, each Barcelona emits half the greenhouse gas emissions than the Spaniard lambda, just as Londoners are twice better than the British. In Brazil, even the sprawling Sao Paulo and Rio show that per capita emissions do not exceed one third of the average Brazilian. What
encourage the efforts of cities like New York, London, Chicago and Amsterdam, which in recent months have launched ambitious climate plans, or metropolitan area of Curitiba, Brazil, became, with its 4 million residents, a sustainable development model for emerging countries.
The explanation is known, proclaimed in every possible way by urban professionals: a compact city, combining accommodation and activities and served by public transport is less polluting than individual homes scattered based on the automobile reigns. The correlation between low urban density and a high amount of CO2 emissions per capita has been demonstrated. Lighting and heating buildings generates a quarter of all emissions of greenhouse gases in the world and, according to estimates by the World Bank, transport accounts for one third of discharges in urban areas.
"Cities offer a real chance of reducing climate change, said Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Anna Tibaijuka, the report" The state of world cities 2008-2009 ". Cities provide well-designed both economies of scale and population density reduce the per capita demand for resources. Our data show that policies that promote efficient public transportation, which reduces urban sprawl and encourage the use of renewables can significantly reduce the environmental footprint of a city and CO2 emissions. "
For Mr. Dodman, designate cities as culprits of climate change distracts attention from the main emission factor of greenhouse gas emissions: "The real culprits are not the cities themselves, but the lifestyle of residents rich countries, based on consumption. "
Yet, observes the researcher, economic development does not necessarily increase pollution. Thus the city of Tokyo makes it a quantity of greenhouse gas emissions per head equivalent to 45% of the average Japanese, well below the emissions per capita in Beijing or Shanghai, two times higher than the average Chinese.
remains that beyond the virtuous examples, many cities are very far from the guns of sustainable urban planning in the developing countries as in the richest states. "There is always need to drastically reduce emissions if we are to achieve the objectives of the fight against climate change," David Dodman cautions.
Transportation is responsible for 60% of CO2 emissions in Sao Paulo, a metropolis of traffic congestion, against 20% in London or New York, well served by Metro. And the United States, countries suburban sprawl, compact city remains a challenge, while the total area of the hundred largest cities in the country increased by 82% between 1970 and 1990 ...
International organizations have recognized that the climate battle will be played in cities. After the recent mobilization of the OECD and the European Commission, the World Bank organized in late June in Marseille, a symposium on the theme "Cities and climate change."
In return, municipalities claim to the UN a place at the negotiating table on climate. Their credo summarized by the Association Cities and Local Governments: "The solutions to global climate change can only be viable if local governments are not fully integrated into the process of decision making."
Grégoire Allix
The buyer or the Parisian workman Beijing? Consumers
Paris should they be charged a portion of CO2 emissions workers in Shanghai? In Europe, but also in Tokyo and Rio, the reduction emissions of greenhouse gases is largely due to the relocation of industry, especially to China, where 20% to 30% of emissions come from production for export. The plants are thus responsible for 80% of discharges in Shanghai and 65% of emissions in Beijing, against just 7% in London and 10% in New York or Tokyo, said David Dodman in the journal Environment and Urbanization. The researcher therefore recommends an emissions measurement based not on production but on consumption, through individual carbon footprint, which gives consumers the environmental impact of what he buys. A analysis reflects the request made on 16 March by China that its emissions of greenhouse gases linked to its exports are excluded from negotiations on climate.
Paris should they be charged a portion of CO2 emissions workers in Shanghai? In Europe, but also in Tokyo and Rio, the reduction emissions of greenhouse gases is largely due to the relocation of industry, especially to China, where 20% to 30% of emissions come from production for export. The plants are thus responsible for 80% of discharges in Shanghai and 65% of emissions in Beijing, against just 7% in London and 10% in New York or Tokyo, said David Dodman in the journal Environment and Urbanization. The researcher therefore recommends an emissions measurement based not on production but on consumption, through individual carbon footprint, which gives consumers the environmental impact of what he buys. A analysis reflects the request made on 16 March by China that its emissions of greenhouse gases linked to its exports are excluded from negotiations on climate.
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