Tackling Climate Change in the Post- 2012 Regime: The Role of Cities and Urban Regions in Asia

Abstract:

The threat of climate change presents major challenges and opportunities for cities in Asia, imposed on top of existing problems of local air quality and need for greater economic development. Asian cities serve as concentrated centres of population, civic and political life, finance, economic activity, resource use, product consumption, carbon emissions, trade, infrastructure, and media. This paper explores how urban areas in Asia can align mitigation of and adaptation to climate change with existing objectives and engage in wider regional and global dialogue processes. Large scale mitigation and sustainable development opportunities such as building energy efficiency and transport improvements can be aligned with air quality improvement and development goals through a “co-benefits” strategy. Leading cities should also take advantage of their positions to share best practices in these areas and to convene more effective dialogue processes on larger regional issues of food, water, and energy security. Finally, Asian cities can influence a broader global solution by serving as financial centres for green capital, serving as locations for large new programmatic or policy-based Clean Development Mechanism projects, and pushing for greater adaptation funding in coastal and deltaic urban areas.