Global Climate Changes and Cities

Climate change is the most pressing environmental, social and economic problem facing the planet. The effects of climate changes are global and long term.

The Sun is the source of energy for the Earths climate system. Although the Suns energy output appears constant from an everyday point of view, small changes over an extended period of time can lead to climate changes. Climate change refers to sustained changes in the earths climate including temperature, precipitation, wind and weather patterns. Global warming refers to the rise in the average temperature on the Earths surface.

Carbon dioxide levels are higher than at any time in the past 650,000 years. This is caused by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal). Other human actions driving climate change include the destruction of forests that naturally remove carbon dioxide and other polluting gases from the air.

Human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, large-scale industrial pollution, deforestation and land use changes, among others, have led to a buildup of GHGs (Green House Gas) in the atmosphere together with a reduction of the capacity of oceans and vegetation to absorb GHGs. This has reduced the Earths natural ability to restore balance to the carbon cycle and is now resulting directly in the current global changes in average temperatures. The most important types of GHGs produced by human activities are CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, chloro-fluoro carbon (CFC), halocarbons and other fluorinated gases.

Not every country has contributed at the same level to global warming. Developing countries have only 25 percent contribution to. A select number of developed countries and major emerging economy nations are the main contributors to total CO2 emissions.

Home to half the worlds population and growing rapidly, cities consume over two-thirds of the worlds energy and account for more than 70 percent of global CO2 emissions. The effects of climate change will be keenly felt in cities. Many of

the world's major cities are at risk of flooding from rising sea levels. Heat-trapping urban landscapes (buildings and paved surfaces) can raise temperatures and lower air quality -- dangerously through the Urban Heat Island effect. In cities of the developing world, one out of every three people lives in a slum, making them particularly vulnerable to the health and environmental risks posed by climate change.

Many urban centers are seeing rapid and largely uncontrolled population growth, creating a pattern of rapid urbanization. Most of this growth is now taking place in developing countries and is concentrated in informal settlements and slum areas. Therefore, the very urban areas that are growing fastest are also those that are least equipped to deal with the threat of climate change. These areas often have profound deficits in governance, infrastructure, and economic and social equity. The exploration of how urban centers contribute to climate change requires an understanding of how transportation, heating and cooling systems, industries and other urban activities and infrastructures act as emitters and as direct causes of climate changes. The main sources of GHG emissions from urban areas are related to the consumption of fossil fuels; whether this is for electricity supply, transportation or industry. Energy supply is responsible for about 26 per cent of global GHG emissions. The combustion of fossil fuels is the major source of these, and is used throughout the world for electricity generation, heating, cooling, cooking, transportation and industrial production. Urban areas rely heavily on energy systems, the energy structure and the quality of the energy. In countries relying heavily on coal for electricity generation, electricity can be the single largest contributor to GHG emissions. A wide variety of renewable energy systems such as solar, wind, wave can contribute to the security of energy supply and the reduction in GHG emissions. Transportation is responsible for about 13 percent of global GHG emissions. Urban areas rely heavily on transportation networks of various kinds for both internal and external movements of goods and people. The proportion of journeys made by private as opposed to public transportation particularly in

larger cities is an important factor influencing GHG emissions from an urban area. As a major part of the problem of climate change cities must be a key part of its solution. Cities can do this by; increasing the energy efficiency of their infrastructure such as buildings, outdoor lighting, and transportation systems, enhancing sustainability, using resources more effectively for example through advanced waste management and Producing clean energy at the district level as well as sourcing clean energy from large-scale suppliers, reductions in the quantities of fossil fuels used, reductions in the carbon content of the fossil fuels used such as a switch from coal to natural gas and changes in the energy structure such as renewable energy sources by switching to other sources of energy, while maintaining the quality of energy provision.

Without coordinated and immediate action across the globe, the earths climate will reach a critical 'tipping point' beyond which really dangerous climate change will become unstoppable.