This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience while browsing it. By clicking 'Got It' you're accepting these terms.
Most recent
Trending
Top Videos

The best of EcoWatch, right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!
Global MIT Survey: More Cities Make Climate Change a Major Part of Planning
As we continue receiving global and national reminders of the impending danger of climate change, more cities are realizing that emissions and energy efficiency must have an important role in the planning of their future operations.
According to anĀ Urban Climate Change Governance Survey from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 75 percent of cities worldwide say climate change issues constitute a mainstream portion of their planning. Additionally, 73 percent say climate mitigation and adaptionāattempting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adjusting to long-term changes already taking effectāare both major considerations.
āClimate change isnāt an isolated issue,ā said Alexander Aylett, report co-author and postdoctoral researcher for the Massachusetts Institute of Technologyās Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP). āIt has large implications for all other aspects of urban life. What we are seeing is cities starting to build it into the DNA of how they approach urban planning.ā
The study includes responses from 350 city leaders around the world. They are looking for climate solutions that can create jobs and an economic development value. A successful example is Portland, OR and itsĀ Clean Energy Works Portland program, which employed 400 people to reduce home energy use, leading to a carbon-emissions reduction of 1,400 metric tons per year. The city has alsoĀ developed incentives, training and regulations to help the growth of sustainable construction firms.
While three-quarters of cities across the globe reported incorporating climate change into their plans, that number dipped to 58 percent for U.S. cities. A nearby example comes fromĀ Alberta, Canada, where city officials concluded they could saveĀ $11 billion in capital costs over the next six decades and $130 million per year in maintenance costs through denser development and taking actions to limit sprawl.
Sixty-three percent of respondents said they have at least one to five staff members dedicated to climate change planning.
Here are some other figures from the MIT survey, produced in conjunction with theĀ International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI):
- 85 percent of cities have conducted an inventory of local greenhouse-gas emissions
- 15 percent of that 85 percent said they have tried to track the emissions that stem from goods and services consumed within their municipality
- About 25 percent of cities say that local businesses have been crucial to creating and implementing their climate mitigation plans
- 48 percent of cities said nonprofits and otherĀ local civil-society groups have been involved in climate planning.
The report was released Thursday asĀ ICLEI supported anĀ urban planning conference inĀ Bonn, Germany.
"[An]Ā important issue raised by this work is what the connection is between framing these responses in terms of climate change and framing them in terms of broader conceptual frameworks, such as sustainability,ā saidĀ John Robinson, a professor of geography at the University of British Columbia. "[Promoting sustainable development may be]Ā most helpful in mainstreaming climate policy.ā
āāā
YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE
414Ā CitiesĀ Take Action AgainstĀ Climate Change
White Houseās Alarming Climate Change Study Calls For āUrgent Actionā
Survey Says Mayors Actively CurbingĀ Climate ChangeĀ in TheirĀ Cities
āāā
EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
In Long Beach, California, some electric buses can charge along their route without cords or wires.
When a bus reaches the Pine Avenue station, it parks over a special charging pad. While passengers get on and off, the charger transfers energy to a receiver on the bottom of the bus.
EPA Watchdog: White House Blocked Part of Truck Pollution Investigation, Caused Lack of Public Information
The Trump administration pushed through an exemption to clean air rules, effectively freeing heavy polluting, super-cargo trucks from following clean air rules. It rushed the rule without conducting a federally mandated study on how it would impact public health, especially children, said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Inspector General Charles J. Sheehan in a report released yesterday, as the AP reported.
A time-restricted eating plan provides a new way to fight obesity and metabolic diseases that affect millions of people worldwide. RossHelen / iStock / Getty Images Plus
By Satchin Panda and Pam Taub
People with obesity, high blood sugar, high blood pressure or high cholesterol are often advised to eat less and move more, but our new research suggests there is now another simple tool to fight off these diseases: restricting your eating time to a daily 10-hour window.
Trending
By Ashutosh Pandey
H&M's flagship store at the Sergels Torg square in Stockholm is back in business after a months-long refurbishment. But it's not exactly business as usual here.