The document discusses the urgent need for cities to transition to low-carbon economies in response to global warming, highlighting the significant role urban areas play in carbon emissions and energy consumption. It emphasizes the importance of innovative urban mitigation actions and policy implementations, such as carbon-neutral city initiatives and sustainable transport systems, to achieve environmental goals. Additionally, it addresses the implications of wealth inequality on urban populations and the necessity for inclusive strategies to promote ecological and social sustainability.

1. 1
Post Carbon Cities
Daniela Carrington
Climate change policy advisor
Energy and Environment Practice
UNDP BRC

2. 2
The draft Fifth Assessment report of IPCC:
• urges quicker switch to low-carbon global economy;
• says delaying action on global warming will only increase the costs
and reduce the options for dealing with its worst effects;
Me neither !
• global warming will continue to increase unless countries shift quickly to clean energy and
cut emissions;
• computer models predict a 3°C rise over a 100 years, and they're more sure than ever "that
many changes, that are observed consistently across components of the climate system,
are significant, unusual or unprecedented on time scales of decades to many hundreds of
thousands of years.”
UNFCCC 2013: cities mitigation policies for post-2020 regime
Our generation is undergoing a drastic change
Rapid urbanization is clearly one key force driving that change
Some cities and their associations, seeing the slow pace toward an
international climate agreement, lobby for a more active international role

3. 3
The future is Urban
• Half of humanity ( 3.5 billion people) – live in cities today
• By 2030, ≈ 60% of the world’s population will live in urban areas
• 95 % of urban expansion in the next decades in developing world
• The world’s cities occupy just 2% of the Earth’s land, but account for 60-80%
of energy consumption and 75% of carbon emissions
• Rapid urbanization is exerting pressure on fresh water supplies, sewage, the living
environment, and public health
“Cities can and should play a leading role in greening economies”, UNEP report
Towards a Green Economy (2011).
- Technology innovation and deployment
- (New) Green business and governance models
- New green(ing) business opportunities/ investment

4. Urban areas are growing in size and importance
Megacities such as Seoul and Tokyo have more inhabitants than the 150 smallest UN-member countries
Mexico
Seoul
Sao Paolo
Mumbai
(Bombay)
Jakarta
Cairo
Lagos
Shanghai
Teheran
Istanbul
1950
2010
(millions)
Town
(millions)
3
1
2,5
3
23
23
21
20
1,5
2,5
0,5
5,5
1
1
16
15
14
13
12
16
Source: Davies / Le Quément (rounded figures)

5. Wealth and poverty
 27,000
5
people world-wide with more than $ 500 M
billion people - with less than 10$ a day
~ 60% of urban population in Africa and 40% Southern Asia
WORKING FOR THE FEW - OXFAM PAPER
• Almost half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just
one percent of the population
• The wealth of the one percent richest people in the
world amounts to $110 trillion. That’s 65 times the total
wealth of the bottom half of the world’s population
• The bottom half of the world’s population owns the
same as the richest 85 people in the world
• In the US, the wealthiest one percent captured 95
percent of post-financial crisis growth since 2009, while
the bottom 90 percent became poorer
In 2010, a record number of Americans lived below the poverty line.
ELIZABETH KNEEBONE: There are now more poor residents living in suburbs than in major cities.
Source: São Paulo, picture from D. Bounds blog
Source:
WSJ report on Crédit Suisse statistics
UN 2011 Report and UN-Habitat

6. Human behavior
New economy and younger generation:
From Proprietas to Usus
 Less ownership (purchasing)
 More access (renting & sharing)
2 hours
Food loss and wastage (Kg/c/y)
Green city means green behavior and rethinking individual consumption.
To adapt your mobility behavior and change your lifestyle.
Source: Google images

7. 7
Rise of the Carbon-Neutral Cities
In the deserts of Abu Dhabi, construction is under way on a green oasis - Masdar
City, a zero-carbon, zero-waste, self-contained community meant to house 50,000
people. The $22 billion megaproject will include cutting-edge solar power and
water treatment systems, nonpolluting underground light rail.
Innovation Doesn't Have to Be Expensive
A little more than a year ago, the Seattle
city council decided to make the city
carbon-neutral by 2050.
The city of Sydney is the first local
Government in Australia to be certified as
carbon neutral under the National Carbon
Offset Standard followed by the city of
Melbourne
http://www.ge.com/innovation/masdar/index.html
Rizhao (China), Arendal (Norway);
Vancouver (Canada); Växjö
(Sweden), even the Vatican have
plans to become carbon neutral

8. 8
Copenhagen's ambition to be carbon-neutral by 2025
• The Danish capital is moving rapidly toward a zero-carbon future, as it erects wind farms,
transforms its citywide heating systems, promotes energy efficiency, and lures more people
out of their cars and onto public transportation and bikes
• What will all this cost? Direct city investment in the 2025 Climate Plan is estimated to be
$472 million through 2025. Add private funds and total investment could hit $4.78 billion
over the same period.
"We can see that we have to invest a lot of money to
reach the target, but we can see also that we can
create a lot of new jobs with that huge investment.
Copenhagen can be a green laboratory for
developing and testing new green solutions.“
Mayor Jensen
Denmark's second largest city Aarhus,
decided to finance a plan to become carbonneutral by 2030

9. 9
Going carbon neutral is a powerful way of demonstrating leadership and helps
make the case for business decisions that support the transformation towards a
cleaner economy
• Experience exists
• Tools for building and testing urban infrastructure scenarios of cities, with the goal of
lowering annual GHG emissions and energy use exist (ex. CarbonNeutralCityPlanner,
Carbon Neutral Local Government - http://www.toolkit.bc.ca/resource/becoming-carbonneutral-workbook-and-guidebook )
• Citizens can provide smart ideas if involved from the start, but have to measure and report
to the community GHG emissions and results
Why to go carbon neutral?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Attracting finance, technologies, private investments
Better energy security
Economic benefits- green jobs, tourism
Social – improved quality of life
Environmental benefits
Meeting EU and int. obligations
Supporting sustainable development

10. 10
Urban Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMA)
in the EE and CIS
• NAMA suitable mechanism for supporting city/town’s
policies in developing countries
• Municipalities have related plans already:
• Astana (Kazakhstan)
• Skopje (FYR of Macedonia)
• Number of towns in Turkey
• Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• Island of Krk carbon – neutral (Croatia)
To be submitted to UNFCCC NAMA registry for international support

11. 11
Possible urban mitigation actions
A package measures or stand alone policy, measure, project
with transformational change:
• Transport measures (e.g. optimization, change of fuel, cycling paths,
parking, better public transport)
• Energy efficiency (in buildings -Insulating buildings can reduce CO2
emissions by 40 percent. It not only saves a lot of energy during the winter but
also provides cooling during the summertime)
• RES – (domestic solar, street lights)
• Waste management
• Energy – (heating, biomass)
• Parks and green areas
• Introduction of Standards
• Green procurement
• Public awareness, behavior change (3R)

12. 12
Urban Transport NAMA Turkey
An internationally supported NAMA of a preparatory nature
Two-step Approach: I. Pilot Cities II. Country-wide Roll-Out
Will create an institutional, knowledge and planning framework through the establishment of a
Model Comprehensive Urban Low-Carbon Mobility Plans to be employed across multiple
metropolitan areas and included in the “Turkey Transportation Plan.”
Goal: to facilitate reductions of urban CO2 emissions by up to 15% compared to BAU
Actions:
1.
High quality public transport (bus, rail, metro, ferry, where appropriate).
2.
Cycling priority lanes and pedestrianization schemes.
3.
Intelligent Transport Systems (i.e., smart traffic and parking management).
4.
Green Asphalt technology (using “warm mix” or “green asphalt” and “reflective concrete” technology).
5.
City-wide electric refuel stations.
6.
Alternative fuel promotion and vehicle efficiency.
7.
Integrated urban mobility throughout different modes of transport (i.e., combined ticketing schemes).

13. Urban NAMA in Bosnia and Herzegovina – town of Tuzla
13
• Complex Urban NAMA for implementation
440,777 tons CO2-reduction;
Co-benefits:
• Goal:
•
• • 23,516 man-month green-jobs generated
• • Reduced market-barriers for households, SMEs and investors
• • Significant environmental impacts & improvement of citizens’ health conditions
• Actions:
•1. Increased capacity of Municipality in mainstreaming CC challenges into development plans, Municipal
EE&RES Revolving-Fund
•2. Awareness: Tuzla CC&EE Educational-Centre
• 3. Increased EE (cogeneration) Tuzla District Heating
• 4. Increased EE of all Municipal public-buildings increased
• 5. Coal-heating replaced with biomass in 3400 households with technical/geographical barriers for DistrictHeating connections
• 6. Overall public-lightning optimised
• 7. 1MW photovoltaic power-plant constructed on 3 multi-purpose locations in city-centre
• 8. 5km bicycle-path constructed in city-centre operational
• 9. Five electrical-cars
•

14. 14
Juliet B. Schor is a professor of sociology at Boston College, and cofounder of A New
American Dream, an organization devoted to transforming North American lifestyles to make
them more ecologically and socially sustainable.
“Humans are degrading the planet far faster than they
are regenerating it. As we travel along this shutdown
path, food, energy, transport, and consumer goods are
becoming increasingly expensive.”
“The economic downturn that has accompanied the
ecological crisis has led to another type of scarcity:
incomes, jobs, and credit are also in short supply. Our
usual way back to growth -- a debt-financed consumer
boom -- is no longer an option that our households, or
planet, can afford.”
http://www.newdream.org/resources/publications/2011-05-plenitude
Marketing Culture
That Makes Children
"Believe They Are
What They Own."

15. 15
Thank you!
daniela.carrington@undp.org
http://www.ted.com/playlists/81/ted_in_3_minutes.html