Potsdam – Cities can slash their greenhouse gas emissions far beyond their urban borders by taking measures to reduce their housing and transport emissions, according to a new study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
The study shows that “the same activities that cause most
local emissions of urban households – housing and transport – are
also responsible for the majority of upstream emissions elsewhere
along the supply chain,” said lead author Peter-Paul Pichler from
the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in a statement.
“People often think that mayors cannot do much about climate
change since their power is restricted to city limits, but their
actions can have far-reaching impacts.”
The climate scientist recommends that instead of using cement
and steel for buildings, which take a huge amount of energy – often
from fossil fuels – to produce, cities should foster the use of
low-carbon construction materials like wood.
What’s more, raising building insulation standards not only
slashes local emissions by reducing heating fuel demand, it also
reduces the need for electric cooling in the summer, which in turn
cuts power generation and hence greenhouse gas emissions in power
plants beyond city borders.
In transport, the scientist points out that expanding public
transport networks would minimize local emissions from car traffic
and reduce the number of cars on the streets. This would mean
building fewer cars elsewhere, lowering the energy load outside
urban borders.
Cities can also choose to power their public transport system
using renewable energy. “By choosing energy from solar or wind,
city governments could in fact close down far-away coal-fired power
plants,” explained Pichler.