Summary for Urban Policymakers

Summary from climate scientists: What the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C means for Cities

Over the next few decades, around eight billion people around the world will see the effects of climate change. Most of them in cities. Already, fifty percent of the world's population lives in urban areas, which at the same time house most of the building fabric and the largest economic activities. By 2050, urban areas are expected to grow between 2.5 and 3 billion, or two-thirds of the world's population. Over the next three decades, nearly seventy million people will move to urban areas every year. The majority of these new residents will live in small and medium-sized cities in developing countries.

Thus, urban policy plays a key role in adapting to climate change and developing solutions - but it must act quickly and can not do it alone.

Eighteen of the authors representing all 5 chapters of the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C (SR1.5) - including GERICS director Daniela Jacob - have produced the Summary for Urban Policymakers to translate the report’s key scientific findings and policy observations for officials and policymakers of the world’s cities and urban areas.

On 10 December 2018, the first outcome of the Innovate4Cities cooperation process will be presented at COP24 in Katowice, Poland: the summary for city policymakers, which brings together scientists, city practitioners and NGOs to explain what the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C means for cities.

further information on the report Summary for Urban Policymakers