Report analyses urban solutions to climate change

New York/Copenhagen 30 January 2023—UN-Habitat and University of Southern Denmark have published a report analysing to what extent urban solutions to climate change and city-specific needs are central to the latest national climate action plans known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

The year 2022 was devastating for climate disasters from floods in Pakistan to drought in Europe to extreme storms in the Caribbean and Asia-Pacific. The report, entitled Urban Climate Action - The urban content of the NDCs: Global review 2022, reveals that while the urban content in NDCs has increased, they are inadequate to respond to the climate crisis.

It says that to achieve climate ambitions, national governments must place cities at the heart of national climate strategies. Despite occupying only about 2% of the global footprint in terms of land area, cities consume about 78% of the world’s energy and emit over 70% of greenhouse gas emissions.

These numbers will spike further as urban populations rise from the current 57% to 68% by 2050, as projected. There is growing awareness that cities are at the forefront of delivering solutions. In his opening speech to the 2019 C40 World Mayors Summit, UN Secretary-General António Guterres made clear, “Cities Are Where the Climate Battle Will Largely Be Won or Lost” 

A new study on urban approaches to climate action

The analysis dives into the 193 NDCs submitted to the UNFCCC before 19 June 2022, considering 200+ indicators to explore urban content. Here’s what we found:

• Almost two-thirds (123 of 193) of NDCs contain urban content: 47 NDCs have strong urban content whereas 76 have moderate levels, and 70 have low or no urban content.

• NDCs with strong urban content increased from 14% in 2016-17 to 24% in 2022.

• Energy, transport, and waste were the sectors most frequently mentioned in the urban context for reducing emissions. Water and infrastructure were most mentioned regarding climate adaptation.

• Flooding was the urban climate hazard flagged most often; however, the number was small (35 NDCs). Other hazards (e.g., sea level rise) were flagged much less often.

What’s next? How can NDCs be strengthened?

The report identified several areas where countries can place stronger NDC emphasis on urban issues:

• Marginalised and vulnerable groups are often most impacted by the climate crisis; however, gender dimensions were barely considered in the urban context, and youths and informal settlements and slums were hardly mentioned.

• The vast majority of NDCs identified requests for capacity building, finance, and technology. Of these, references to support at the city level were minimal (22 for city-level finance, 8 for capacity building, and 7 for technology).

• Only 43% of NDCs focused on both urban adaptation and mitigation, indicating a lack of integration.

• Weak urban NDC content does not necessarily indicate minimal climate urban policies and actions. Other key policies such as National Adaptation Plans and national development plans might highlight urban considerations not reflected in the NDC

Considering the large share of emissions and emission reduction potential in cities and the need for enhanced urban resilience, countries should place cities at the heart of climate strategies, strengthening climate ambition.

Go here to download the full report.