Smart Sectors to Promote Climate Change Mitigation

A study provides evidence that suggests the crucial role cities have in mitigating climate change through their techno-policies choices. Sethi et al. (2020) identifies key sectors that should take a bigger role in adapting and mitigating climate change in cities, including waste, transport, energy, and buildings. These sectors are the ones that have the most effectiveness in reducing the carbon footprint compared to their business-as-usual practices. Through systemic analysis of many case studies of cities around the world Sethi et al. found that technological innovation, on average, has the most significant impact on the reduction of GHG. For example, a Net Zero Emission Building has 105% GHG abatement potential. 

The evidence also shows that coupling multiple initiatives and synergetic intervention expands and upscale the mitigation effort. The whole is greater than the sum of its part. Hence, technological innovation must be supported by enabling measures and regulation to reach wider scope of outcome. It is also critical that cities encourage the development of policies that are cross-sectoral as climate change mitigation and a fusion of disciplinary knowledge. 

Reference:

Sethi, M., Lamb, W., Minx, J., & Creutzig, F. (2020). Climate change mitigation in cities: a systematic scoping of case studies. Environmental Research Letters, 15(9), 093008.

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