Hundreds of cities are now committing themselves to be 100 per cent on renewables at specified times in the future. Kirby Calvert argues on the Policy Options website that the target is a simple and positive message, but it can unnecessarily confuse the public, fostering a false sense that this market transformation can be driven … Continue reading
This year, 36 enormous cruise ship hotels will be moored on the Thames in London between Greenwich and Tower Bridge, some for several days at a time, each burning thick diesel and belching out poisonous fumes. The toxic fumes from these cruise liners exacerbate London’s existing deadly pollution levels. Air pollution alone leads to 9,500 … Continue reading
The energy transition requires us to explore all energy options. In yesteryear, London had many rivers throughout the city. Many of the rivers now run in covered channels dating from the Georgian and Victorian periods. Mark Bridge writes in The Times about efforts to now use them for heating and cooling. Underground river could heat … Continue reading
We read regularly about urban initiatives to address climate change. Alice McClure, a PhD candidate at the Climate System Analysis Group together with Gina Ziervogel, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental and Geographical Science and African Climate and Development Initiative Research Chair at the University of Cape Town write in an article on The Conversation website … Continue reading
When we think of cities, we think of a lot of steel and concrete. We know that cities have trees and other forms of greenery and the important role they play for our health, in reducing GHG emissions and many other benefits. Of concern in the US is the increasing loss of trees, as researchers … Continue reading
Urban mobility is an extremely important topic for towns and cities around the world. Cities are filled with traffic congestion, noise pollution, and most importantly a deterioration of urban air quality. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), transportation in the U.S. generates the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) (28%)[i], while … Continue reading
Annie Gowen writes in The Washington Post about the level of pollution in the world’s megacities. The worst one is New Delhi. The importance of this article is not to name and shame the most polluting but to show that there are approaches, as we are now seeing in China, that can make significant improvements. … Continue reading
Oliver Milman provides an important article in The Guardian about the current situation in the United States relating to climate change, urban air quality and the low-carbon energy transition. Readers will be amazed to know the gains that have been made in the US in recent decades. They will also be concerned that those gains … Continue reading
In the most comprehensive survey to date, over 30 researchers investigated the local climate plans of 885 cities in Europe. Oliver Heidrich, Senior Researcher in Urban Resource Modelling at Newcastle University and Diana Reckien, Associate Professor for Climate Change and Urban Inequalities at University of Twente provide a summary of the results in an article … Continue reading
Heavily urbanised areas within cities are between 1℃ and 3℃ hotter than other areas, as most of us understand so well. Tiziana Susca, Research Fellow and Francesco Pomponi, Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow at Edinburgh Napier University write in an article on The Conversation website about the importance of reducing urban heat but the mixed record … Continue reading
