5 pioneering cities on the climate

Faced with insufficient action on the part of States, cities, which cause 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions, are starting to show their tremendous capacity to take action to preserve the climate. “They are the ones who are the most aware of the challenges facing their territories and the expectations of citizens”, points out Alix Françoise, Project Team Manager at Agence Française de Développement (AFD). “They can play a major role in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, by breathing new life into policies for mobility, waste management and access to water.”

Here are 5 pioneering cities in the fight against climate change:

1. In Curitiba (Brazil), protected natural reserves in the heart of the city

One of the challenges face by the city involved preserving biodiversity – and at the same time the image of this “green city” in Brazil – while the city continued to relentlessly expand towards the South, threatening the state of the Barigui River and local wildlife.

With AFD’s support, Curitiba is not only going to redevelop the river banks and create four new parks, but will also eventually connect up all the parks into a single ecological corridor surrounding the city. These areas will preserve the local flora, increase the surface area reserved for biodiversity in the city and provide a response to soil erosion and the resulting flood risks.

2. In Jinzhong (China), a model heating network for energy efficiency

Heating in buildings alone is an example of China’s huge room for improvement in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions: coal is still its main energy source, while the dilapidated state of heating networks causes enormous energy losses.

The city of Jinzhong is tackling this problem head-on. Since 2010, it has replaced some 700 small boilers by a much more efficient heating network. It is 98 km-long and supplied by a new 2 x 300 MW “cogeneration” (electricity + heat) coal-fired power plant. There were immediate benefits for the climate and the residents of Jinzhong.

3. In Jodhpur (India), leds put the spotlight on energy savings

India is experiencing a sharp rise in its energy consumption due to economic growth and rapid urbanization, to the extent that it is today the world’s 3rd largest energy consumer, after China and the USA. The problem is that its needs could double by 2035 and its energy mix still mainly focuses on coal.

Jodhpur and its 1.1 million inhabitants, in the Indian State of Rajasthan, which is known as the “blue city” has gradually been turning green since it started replacing, back in 2015, the traditional light bulbs of its street lighting equipment with 45,000 LED lamps, which are both brighter and consume less energy. The environmental benefits are already being felt: street lighting consumption in Jodhpur has already been reduced by 55% and the related greenhouse gas emissions have dropped by 16,000 tons a year.

4. In Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)

Behind the postcard image, the capital of the Dominican Republic suffers from a lack of transport equipment and infrastructure. Santo Domingo was determined to take action and a few years ago launched an ambitious program to redevelop transport in the east of the city, thanks to a USD 210m (EUR 182m) loan from AFD.

The city consequently set up the “Acuabus”, a river shuttle service connected to the metro and serving several isolated neighborhoods, as well as a 5 km-long pilot cable car line, connecting the outlying northern neighborhoods to the city center, which used to be cut off by the Ozama River. At the same time, the city is extending Line 2 of its metro with an additional 4 km.

5. In Buenos Aires (Argentina), cities are mobilizing for the climate

Buenos Aires, the capital of a country with 44 million inhabitants, is not escaping the questioning over the roles that cities play in the global ecological crisis. Its commitment to become carbon neutral by 2050, its support for projects to install rooftop solar panels on public buildings, the expansion of its metro network and the construction of 210 km of cycle tracks all bear witness to this.

Buenos Aires wants to go one step further and take action at international level. In December 2017, at the One Planet Summit in Paris, it launched a new initiative: Urban 20, or U20, a summit gathering the main cities of G20 countries with the aim of promoting the main challenges facing cities – especially climate change – in order to send a strong message at the next summit of Heads of State from the world’s 20 largest economies. The first Urban 20 will be held on 29 and 30 October in Buenos Aires.

Original source: AFD
Published on 16 October 2018