Author:

Thomas Day, Sofia Gonzales-Zuñiga, Leonardo Nascimento, Niklas Höhne, Hanna Fekete, Sebastian Sterl, Frederic Hans, Antoine Warembourg, Anda Anica Pieter van Breevoort

Publisher:

NewClimate Institute, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40), Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM)

Description:

The study estimates that by 2030, a boost in urban climate action can prevent approximately 1.3 million premature deaths per year, net generate 13.7 million jobs in cities, and save 40 billion hours of commuters’ time plus billions of dollars in reduced household expenses each year.

Funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Climate Opportunity examines a number of effective urban solutions to climate change, including energy efficiency retrofits in buildings, enhanced bus networks, and district-scale renewable energy, and shows that these climate actions are strong drivers of positive public health and economic outcomes across countries and regions.

Top findings show that:

• Investments in residential energy efficiency retrofits will result in a net creation of 5.4 million jobs in cities worldwide. These investments will also result in significant household savings, as well as emissions reductions.
• Improved bus services and more extensive networks can prevent the premature deaths of nearly 1 million people per year from air pollution and traffic fatalities worldwide. Better service also saves 40 billion hours of commuters’ time each year by 2030 and achieves important emissions reductions.
• District-scale renewable energy for heating and cooling in buildings can prevent a further 300,000 premature deaths per year by 2030, as well as create approximately 8.3 million jobs and contribute to significant emissions reductions.
• Overall, climate action policies can have proportionally greater outcomes for lower income groups in developing cities, where populations have the most to gain from the introduction of new technologies.

Launching at the same time is an online dashboard hosted on the <link https: www.globalcovenantofmayors.org climate-opportunity _blank external-link-new-window covenant of>Global Covenant of Mayors’ websitethat allows cities to tangibly use data from this report to plan how specific climate actions – such as
improving bus service, retrofitting buildings, or implementing renewable energy for heating and cooling – can improve emissions, create jobs, and increase savings customized to a city of their size.

Language:

English

Page count:

63

Source:

www.globalcovenantofmayors.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/ClimateOpportunity_Full_online.pdf

Copyright:

Bloomberg Philanthropies