The Urban Dimension in Climate Change Action

Over the course of the last three years, the international community adopted several landmark agreements for a more sustainable future: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and the New Urban Agenda. In a world where more than half the total population lives already in cities, both large and small, the way we plan, build and manage cities is crucial to achieving sustainable development and combatting climate change. The importance of cities for addressing the climate challenge is clear. Many global examples exist on how cities are beginning to incorporate climate-compatible development. While the actions taken by cities develop on a local scale, their cumulative regional and global impact can be significant. Cities can adopt agile measures and provide rapid responses to urban and climate challenges. In this context, is important to ensure a coordinated local, national and transboundary cooperation between governments and cities to meet the common goals of more and faster global climate action.

The High-Level Roundtable on the urban dimension in climate change action aims to advance the debate on policies and actions needed to deepen the linkages between climate action and sustainable development in urban areas. The High-Level Roundtable will showcase the urban dimension in climate action and present relevant policies, strategies and actions, and will provide space for discussions on how best to scale up urban climate action. The event will provide a platform for participants and stakeholders to discuss and recommend policies and scalable solutions on how to achieve urban mitigation and adaptation, and sustainable urban development.

- Showcase city- and national-level implementation successes, innovative approaches and transformative solutions;
- Advocate for national- and local-level policies that support climate-friendly urban areas.
- Advocate for the engagement of leaders in relevant local, national and global climate action

Over the course of the last three years, the United Nations Member States adopted several landmark agreements for a more sustainable future: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the New Urban Agenda. In a world where more than half the population already lives in urban areas, the way we plan, build and manage cities is crucial to achieving sustainable development and combatting climate change.

Human activity in Cities account for between 71 and 76 per cent of energy-related CO2 emissions (IPCC 2014), and a significant portion of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions stem primarily from the consumption of fossil fuels for energy supply and transportation, and resource consumption in cities. At the same time urban populations worldwide are already feeling the impacts of the changing climate. Rising sea levels, increasing temperatures, changing rainfall patterns and more frequent extreme weather events are having a significant impact on cities, particularly on the urban poor. Thus, cities are without a doubt at the forefront of global climate action.

Many global examples exist on how cities are beginning to incorporate climate-compatible development. While the actions taken by cities are on a local scale, their cumulative regional and global impact can be significant. Cities can provide rapid responses to certain climate challenges. At the same time, other actions (e.g., better urban planning) that will yield significant long-term results are also required. In this context, it is important to ensure a coordinated local, national and transboundary cooperation between governments and cities, led by example and informed by the exchange of knowledge, to scale up global, national and local action on climate change in urban areas.

Climate Change is squarely embedded in the New Urban Agenda, advocating for a robust shift to environmental sustainability and resilience in urban development through a mix of measures, including nationally appropriate policies, capacity-building, technological and financing approaches. Furthermore, the New Urban Agenda takes into account risk informed urban development, sustainable mobility systems, clean energy, sustainable use of land and resources in urban development, protecting public spaces, ecosystems and biodiversity for urban resilience, and promoting sustainable consumption and production patterns while reducing environmental impacts and carbon emissions. The spatial and policy model proposed in the New Urban Agenda is based on compact, and integrated cities and human settlements where appropriate density and connectivity minimize land consumption and promote low-carbon development. The new urban agenda integrates disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation and mitigation considerations and measures into urban and territorial development and planning processes, including greenhouse gas emissions, resilienceu2010based, and climate effective design of spaces. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are highly congruent with this approach. In particular SDG Target 11.b calls for: “[By 2020], substantially increase the number of cities & human settlements adopting & implementing integrated policies & plans towards… mitigation & adaptation to climate change…”.