Cities and Climate Change

Cities make a substantial contribution to climate change by accounting for over 70% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Correspondingly, they serve as hubs of innovation and adaptation, where transformative actions can be taken to mitigate and adapt to climate change by integrating climate considerations into urban planning, infrastructure development, and governance processes. As urbanisation continues to accelerate worldwide, cities have emerged as focal points for both the impacts of and responses to climate change. With over half of the global population living in urban areas, the resilience of cities against climate-related hazards is paramount.

African cities particularly face heightened susceptibility to climate change and bear a disproportionate burden of its impacts despite contributing relatively little to global carbon emissions.  Climate change poses multifaceted challenges ranging from increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events to rising sea levels, heatwaves, and water scarcity. These changes not only threaten the physical infrastructure and ecological systems of cities but also aggravate social and economic inequalities, disproportionately affecting vulnerable urban communities.