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Urban centres provide opportunities for a range of social and cultural activities, as well as being critical for innovations in science, technology and education. They are also of critical importance for social and economic development. However, with approximately 40% of global energy use taking place within city buildings, this sector is also the single largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions.
As a result, the design and use of energy and resource-efficient buildings has a key role in climate change mitigation to accelerate the global green economy transition. Although vast savings are possible by constructing new green buildings and retrofitting existing buildings, even greater gains can be achieved by adopting a long-term life-cycle approach involving stakeholders at different stages – from environmentally-minded investors and architects, to sustainable extraction, construction and usage, and the eventual demolition and the recycling or disposal of the building materials.
Cities are well-placed to play a major role in decoupling economic development from resource use and environmental impacts, while finding a better balance between social, environmental and economic objectives. Resource-efficient cities combine greater productivity and innovation with lower costs and reduced environmental impacts, offering at the same time financial savings and increased sustainability.
Created a Post in Climate Change, Cities and Urban Development
Resource Efficient Housing programme is being piloted with Burkina Faso and Sri Lanka as the first 2 selected countries. The programme responds to the urgent need to reduce global greenhouse emissions with a focus on material resource efficiency, given the fact that 50% of the building stock is yet to be built, with most of it to occur in developing countries. The main objective is to support countries building their roadmap towards a resource efficient, low carbon and climate resilient buildings strategy.
Created a Post in Agriculture, Cities and Urban Development, Natural Capital
The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group and Green Growth Knowledge Partnership (GGKP) have launched a call for proposals to identify a technical partner to apply robust natural capital methods, support data collection and generate convincing results to influence infrastructure decision making in African development finance.
There are two AfDB infrastructure projects in Mozambique and Madagascar for which proposals are requested. One proposal for each country will be selected in this round.
French and Portuguese versions of the request for proposals (RfPs) are available.
Created a Post in Cities and Urban Development, Transportation and Mobility
ESCAP addresses issue of sustainable urban transport, as outlined in the Regional Action Programme for Sustainable Transport Connectivity in Asia and the Pacific, phase I (2017-2021). A regional meeting entitled “Asia-Pacific Sustainable Urban Transport Systems for the 2030 Agenda” was organized on 9 and 10 June 2021 in a virtual format. The high-level meeting provided a platform for the exchange of regional and global best practices which address sustainable urban transport systems in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 3, 11 and 13).
Created an Event in Sustainable Finance, Cities and Urban Development
Created a Post in Cities and Urban Development, Natural Capital, Water and Sanitation
Hamburg Using Nature to Purify its Water
Created a Post in Cities and Urban Development, Climate Change
As part of the Data-Driven Climate Action project, ICLEI has launched four case studies about how data-driven decision-making is helping cities to plan, implement and monitor climate change mitigation initiatives. With the support of Google.org, the project provides valuable data to assist local and regional governments in the decision-making process regarding climate action.
In May 2021, ICLEI’s Sustainable Mobility team organized a session on “Transitioning towards e-buses: Barriers and opportunities”.
Reflecting learnings in different contexts, the consensus is clear: e-buses still present technological, financial, and institutional barriers and the transition to a full electric bus fleet requires an integrated introduction of a new ecosystem built around policy, infrastructure and financing. The question remains: how could cities plan the transition and pilot new buses to help transform mobility in support of sustainable development goals?
Created an Opportunity in Cities and Urban Development, Climate Change
Created a Post in Transportation and Mobility, Cities and Urban Development
The global coronavirus pandemic brought a wave of public and private initiatives to help societies adapt and recover, from economic stabilization and safety measures to new business models and shifts in consumption. Many of these initiatives are not green, despite the fact that society needs major changes to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change and ensure health and equity for all.
Transport is a key sector in need of big changes, comprising 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 24% of carbon emissions. Meanwhile, over a million traffic fatalities occur every year, millions are exposed to deadly air pollution on roads and the majority of residents in many cities — often the poorest — cannot reach a job within an hour of travel time.
In a new paper with the Transport Decarbonisation Alliance, WRI evaluated countries’, cities’ and companies’ actions during the pandemic that impact the transport sector. They found that of the $298 billion in global recovery funds catalogued by the Energy Policy Tracker in the transport sector between March 2020 and February 2021, only 44% positively affect the climate and sustainability.
Created a Post in Cities and Urban Development
On 9 July, the GlobalABC will host the online event "Building Pathways to Net-Zero" as an affiliated event to the 2021 APCW. The event will discuss the level of ambition needed in the buildings and construction sector, as well as the key tools to deliver that vision by 2050 and the landmark milestones that need to be achieved by 2030. Speakers include:
- Ha Quong Hung, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Construction, Viet Nam - Septia Buntara, ASEAN Center for Energy (TBC) - Dr. Yan Vandeluxe, Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, Cambodia (TBC) - Saraubh Diddi, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, India - Peter Graham, Global Buildings Performance Network (TBC) - Built environment systems map – Nexial/Laudes (TBC) - Oliver Woodruff, ARUP Vietnam
Looking forward to welcome you there!