The Climate City

The conclusion to The Climate City ( Chapter 30, Epilogue ) is a “manifesto of actions” from the text. We are fast approaching tipping points that will destroy life on our land, in our rivers, and in our oceans. The impact will be on all of the inhabitants of the planet, and the role of cities in doing their part but also paving the way for wider improvements will make a fundamental contribution to the future we end up with. The keys to our future are in the hands of the mayors of our great cities. Enjoy the book.

1 1IEA, World Energy Outlook – 2019, based on WHO Household energy database and IEA World Energy Balances 2019.

2 2Barber, B.R., 2014. If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.

3 3Katz, B., Bradley, J., 2014. The Metropolitan Revolution. Brookings Institute, Washington, DC.

4 4 https://www.princeton.edu/news/2019/03/06/autonomous-vehicles-could-be-environmental-boon-or-disaster-depending-public-policy.

5 5BBC ideas; if everyone in the world planted a tree. https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/what-if-everyone-in-the-world-planted-a-tree/p084ttpq

6 6Rittel, H.W.J., Webber, M.M., 1973. Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences 4, 155–169.

7 7 https://www.mcc-berlin.net/en/research/co2-budget.html.

8 8 https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement/key-aspects-of-the-paris-agreement.

Cities run on a unique momentum. They combine a vision of the future with constant innovation. It is no mystery as to why our cities come to symbolize the best we can offer as nations. Ambition is what defines a city, the ability to look forward and the constant pushing of the boundaries of what is possible. It is clear that we need ambition, but ambition alone is problematic. All too often we are bound to empty leadership, PR stunts, and meaningless words that lead to unsubstantial policy. Short-term goals are ineffective and long-term outcomes are lost. Simply citing “a net-zero city” as a strategic goal is not enough.

So … how do we retain ambition but keep clarity?

Throughout this chapter, Peter Boyd will discuss this challenge and outline his plan for ambitious but accountable cities. He argues that the “clarity” we seek for the ambitious city is achieved through “connected” leadership both to the environment and the city it serves. Peter writes, “As faith in national governments and global institutions falters, it is in the city level of democracy and leadership that we can locate a stable point of leadership to embrace this level of responsibility.”

This need for connected leadership is not to be underestimated, especially as we move towards our ambitious (but possible) “Net-Zero” targets. Peter looks at what earns a city its “Net-Zero” status and considers how four powerful descriptors – Fully Scoped, Science-Based, Paris-Agreement-Compliant, Cumulative – bring clarity to the concept itself. Peter then goes beyond this, quite literally, in what he refers to as “Net Zero and Beyond”, as he outlines further steps we can take beyond the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions so that cities become “climate positive” rather than solely aiming for “Net-Zero” status.

All leaders act and all leaders are defined by their actions. But in the case of the ambitious city, action alone is not enough in regards to any future leader. They must go “beyond” this. Meaningful, clear, clean action is the only option in the ambitious city.

Peter Boyd

For cities to truly lead on climate change – a just transition to “Net-Zero” and beyond – high ambition needs to be coupled with high clarity of vision and a multidimensional, connected-leadership approach with an appreciation and embrace of systems thinking.

Cities have been magnets to ambition for centuries. From fairy tales to ancient Rome (Figure 1.1), to contemporary migration trends, and everything in between, people have come to the city to seek their fortune – to “be somebody”, to “make it” and make things happen.

Figure 1.1 A depiction of Ancient Rome, a concept shaping many cities that followed. ( Source : ZU_09/Getty Images.)

If cities are to truly take the lead in combatting climate change, we need an ambitious city with purpose-driven city leaders to accelerate a just transition to a sustainable future. We need them to help define the city’s goals and for individual ambition to inform and feed into collective ambition for a city we all want to live in, and where we think our children and grandchildren will in turn want to stay or return to.

But alongside ambition we need clarity . “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there,” said Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland (Figure 1.2). There are cities all over the world with a number of sustainability goals, but to truly take the lead on climate change we should reach and then surpass “Net-Zero” (capital letters to be explained) into carbon negative, eco-restorative territory – as soon as each city is able, and well before 2050.

Figure 1.2 If you don’t know where you are going any road will take you there. ( Source : EllerslieArt/Adobe Stock.)

To achieve this necessary climate goal while managing all the other priorities of the complex modern city, we need leaders that are truly connected: to themselves; to the team around them; to their communities and stakeholders; and to an awareness and appreciation of the entire system they are trying to manage and change.

What could this look like? A city would have a bold, clear, co-created goal that the city leadership, community leaders, and citizens readily understand and support. A city’s climate action plan would target a fully scoped, science-based, Paris-Agreement-compliant, cumulative “Net-Zero” well before 2050; and it would do so in a way that also makes the city greener, more equitable, more resilient, smarter, friendlier, healthier, and all the other qualities to be examined in later chapters.

And just as Maya Angelou told us as individuals to “Be yourself, only better”, cities will have achieved this in a variety of complex, adaptive, ingenious ways – peculiar to their own unique assets and their own unique, ambitious citizens.

Cities have been hives of ambition since they were first created. Birthed by the ambitious, they have attracted like minds in search of their fortune, of significance, of life’s meaning, and much more. Today, we need these hives of ambition to assume leadership of the just transition to a sustainable world.

Thomas Berry, in The Great Work , describes these decisive decades in the context of a long multicentury arc as one when we have to work out how to become a benign force on the planet – with ourselves as fellow humans and with all creation. This is, in essence, the “Great Work” that lies before us. And as faith in national governments and global institutions falters, it is in the city level of democracy and leadership that we locate a stable point of leadership to embrace this level of responsibility.