Cities and Climate Change

Cities are a central part of the solutions for climate change

Today the OECD is actively working with governments to highlight the role of cities to deliver cost-effective policy responses to climate change. Cities are centers of innovation and can advance clean energy systems, sustainable transportation and waste management to reduce greenhouse gases. With access to up to date climate science, they can also work with local stakeholders to design and implement effective adaptation strategies to respond to unavoidable impacts of climate change. A number of projects at the OECD are advancing the understanding of the various roles that cities can play to respond to more efficiently and effectively to climate change.
  
• Impacts, Vulnerability, and the Benefits of Adaptation & Mitigation Policies

This Cities and Climate Change project focuses on global-local linkages of climate change policy.  A first priority of this stream of work is to explore the local-scale risks of climate change and the benefits of climate policies with respect to urban infrastructure and populations. In addition to a literature review on impacts and adaptation at city scale, an initial analytical report focuses on the world’s large port cities and their exposure and vulnerability to coastal flooding from sea-level rise and extremes. Additional reports are planned in 2007-2008 to include two in-depth case studies on the port cities of Copenhagen and Mumbai. The first two reports from this project were released at COP-13 in Bali. Contact: Jan Corfee-Morlot, jan.corfee-morlot[at]oecd.org.

Publications

• Hunt, A., and P. Watkiss. 2007. Literature Review on Climate Change Impacts on Urban City Centres: Initial Findings. ENV/EPOC/GSP(2007)10. Paris, France: OECD.
• Nicholls, R., S. Hanson, C. Herweijer, N. Patmore, S. Hallegatte, J. Corfee-Morlot, J. Chateau, and R. Muir-Wood. 2007. Ranking port cities with high exposure and vulnerability to climate extremes: Exposure estimates. OECD Environment Working Paper 1, ENV/WK(1)2007. Paris, France: OECD. Supplemental scenario data. Executive summary.

Other work on Climate Change being undertaken in the OECD: 

• Transportation and Climate Change

The International Transport Forum (ITF) and its predecessor, the European Conference on Ministries of Transport (ECMT), are engaged in many aspects of transport-related climate research and policy-making, including urban travel.  Recent work has looked at the implementation of sustainable urban transport policies, company mobility management plans and has investigated the potential for transport policies, including many at the urban level (e.g. road pricing) to deliver meaningful GHG reductions. New climate change-related work is centred on the organisation of the first full Ministerial meeting of the International Transport Forum held in May 2008 on the Theme “Transport, Energy and the Challenge of Climate Change”. Contact:  Philippe Crist, philippe.crist[at]oecd.org  and the International Transport Forum (ITF) web site.

In addition, an OECD Global Forum on Transport and Environment in a Globalising World will be held 10-12 November 2008 in Guadalajara, Mexico. This Global Forum will feature a session on urban transport problems, inter alia presenting case studies on how selected cities (Mexico City, Santiago, Rome, Berlin and Singapore) have promoted environmentally sustainable transport. Contact: Nils-Axel Braathen, nils-axel.braathen[at]oecd.org.

• Competitive Cities and Climate Change

An ongoing activity on Competitive Cities and Climate Change addresses the inter-linkages and the trade-offs between climate change objectives and other goals that are central to urban development and the existing urban governance mechanisms that allow implementation of integrative urban policy strategy. A Workshop on “Competitive Cities and Climate Change” was held in November 2007 in Paris to obtain insights for policy design and governance to mitigate and adapt climate change at city level.  “Competitive Cities and Climate Change” will also be the main theme of the forthcoming International conference meeting of the OECD Roundtable Strategy for Urban Development of Mayors and Ministers to be held in Milan on September 2008. Contact: Lamia Kamal-Chaoui (Lamia.Kamal-Chaoui[at]oecd.org) and Tetsuya Shimomura (Tetsuya.Shimomura[at]oecd.org) and see the related web page.