Invest in nature and reap cash benefits, World Economic Forum urges cities
Barcelona, SpainThomson Reuters Foundation After a landslide in 2017 killed 1,141 people and left more than 3,000 homeless in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown, the recovery plan included training residents to plant 21,000 native trees to reduce the risk of future disasters on bare hillsides. Amid erratic and unusually heavy rains, as well as urban expansion, […]
China cracks down on vanity-project super skyscrapers
Beijing, ChinaReuters China has restricted the construction of extremely tall skyscrapers in smaller cities as part of a crackdown on wasteful vanity projects by local governments. Without special approval, cities with populations of less than three million must not build skyscrapers taller than 150 metres, and cities with larger populations must not construct buildings higher […]
Rooftops to railways: neighbourhoods race to hit net zero climate goals
Durban, South AfricaThomson Reuters Foundation Tackling climate change at a city level – let alone on a global scale – is time-consuming, but neighbourhoods are being targeted as testing grounds for speedy, community-led climate solutions. Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November, engineering company Arup and the C40 Cities network have launched […]
Hundreds of cities back UN fight against global woes
New York, USReuters Some 332 local governments worldwide have backed a New York City-led campaign to address global goals tackling poverty, inequality, injustice and climate change and pledged to report their progress to the United Nations. The governments signed on to a voluntary declaration drafted by New York City, up from some 22 cities when […]
One billion people live in cities shifting away from fossil fuels
Toronto, CanadaThomson Reuters Foundation The number of cities working to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy surged in 2020, representing a quarter of the world’s urban population, or one billion people, green energy policy network REN21 said this week. More than 1,300 cities had set targets or introduced policies to boost renewable energy by the […]
“Turning point”: Cities urged to act on lessons learned in pandemic
Washington DC, USThomson Reuters Foundation From better hygiene to greater awareness of inequality and recognition of “essential workers”, lessons learned during the coronavirus pandemic could be harnessed to improve city life for years to come, city leaders and others said last week. The health crisis has gutted urban economies, emptied offices and public transport and […]
“Resilient recovery”: Cities link pandemic, climate adaptation responses
Washington DC, USThomson Reuters Foundation Cities across the globe pledged this week to use their post-pandemic recovery plans to bolster ways to adapt to the growing risks posed by climate change. The 1000 Cities Adapt Now initiative, launched by several non-governmental organizations and a UN agency, will initially start operating in 100 urban areas but […]
Toxic air seen cutting thousands of lives short each year in Europe’s cities
Thomson Reuters Foundation Tens of thousands of European city dwellers die prematurely each year due to air pollution, researchers said on Wednesday in a study ranking more than 800 cities according to the risk of early death from two leading pollutants. The study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, analysed the risk in each place […]
Urban air quality less improved by COVID lockdowns than first believed
Rome, ItalyThomson Reuters Foundation Lockdowns during the first wave of COVID-19 had a much smaller impact on urban air quality than first expected, a study of 11 global cities, from Wuhan to New York, found on Wednesday. As millions stayed home, concentrations in the air of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) – a key pollutant emitted by […]
Use COVID-19 to build back better, cities told
Tbilisi, GeorgiaThomson Reuters Foundation COVID-19 will not spell the end of world cities, which are set to grow further over the next decade, the United Nations said on Saturday, urging civic leaders to use the pandemic as a springboard to build better, more liveable urban centres. About 60 per cent of the global population is […]