Sustainable Cities and the Global Environment Outlook

Peter Gilruth, Director, DEWAArab Hoballah, SCP Chief, DTIE

Special event on 29 January 2012

At the

Intergovernmental Meeting to Negotiate and Endorse the GEO-5 Summary for Policy Makers

29 - 31 January 2012

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Outline

• Cities and the Environment

• UNEP Work on Built Environment

• Towards Rio+20

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An Urban Future

Our future is urban

A new geographical distribution

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An Urban Future

Source: UN-DESA World Urbanization Prospects, the 2007 Revision. p.5

Urban population distribution

• The environmental footprint of cities is far larger than their physical boundaries

• Atmospheric pollution : 60 – 70 % of global derived GHG emissions is from cities

• Local environment: high concentration of particulate matter is a danger to health– Annually 5.3% of the deaths worldwide (3.1

million) are attributable to air pollution. (WHO)

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Environmental Impact of Urbanization

• Water: high levels of contamination where the population density is high and the sanitation standards are low

• Waste :1.7-1.9 billion tonnes, or 46 % of global waste

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Environmental Impact of Urbanization

Environmental Impact of Urbanization

• Africa: – Rapid, unplanned urban growth– land degradation– marine pollution

• Asian Cities : – Air pollution: high concentration of Particulate

Matter (PM)– Increasing carbon footprint as wealth is

concentrated in cities– Changing consumption patterns

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Environmental Impact of Urbanization

• Latin America: – climate change, biodiversity loss and

concerns over water and land management

– poverty and inequity are also of high priority

• Europe and North America– North American urban sprawl– Shrinking cities– Large carbon footprint

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The Vulnerability of Cities to Environmental Impacts

• Vulnerability: Cities are highly vulnerable vis-à-vis the impacts of global environmental degradation

• High exposure to climate change-driven natural disasters and climatic change

• Concentration of vulnerable people (e.g. the poor)

• Insufficient/unequal access to basic urban services resulting in social and environmental impacts

Cities for Sustainability

• Economies of Scale• Hubs of knowledge and innovation• Strategic importance of cities as part of

the broader ecosystem• Social and economic dominance: 50% of

global population and 80% of the global GDP

• Potential for efficiency

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UNEP and Built Environment

• Approach based on:– Resource efficiency and SCP

1. Buildings2. Cities3. Lifestyles and Efficiency

– Green Economy1. Cost of innaction2. Benefits3. incentives

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UNEP: Working with Cities

• Supporting cities in their mitigation strategies

• Mainstreaming Environment into City Development Strategy

• UNEP as a centre for knowledge and innovation: Knowledge Center Cities and Climate Change (K4C) http://www.kcccc.info/preview

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UNEP: Working with Cities

• Tools for measuring, reporting and verification of environmental data

• Urban CDM – with Gwangju

• Conducting city-level assessments: the GEO Cities series.

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Working with the Building sector

• Sustainable Building and Climate Initiative (SBCI)– Over 18 private sector partners including big

companies all over the world – Advocating and developing a common voice for the

building sector together with a benchmarking system to assess the environmental performance of buildings

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UNEP: Working with the Building sector

• Sustainable Social Housing Initiative (SUSHI)

• Sustainable Building Policies in Developing Countries (SPoD)

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Key Strategic Partnerships

• Support local authorities and the building sector stakeholders and establish networks of cooperation

• Incorporate resource efficiency into urban policies and design

• Promoting common tools for city/buildings environmental data and assessment.

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Summary of UNEP’s approach

Towards Rio + 20Elements of a Global Initiative on Cities

• Platform for consultation and for sharing best practices among city managers/urban planners

• Developing common metrics for sustainable cities, (e.g., for GHG emissions, city environmental performance assessments, Common Carbon Metric in the building sector, etc)

• Promote clean energy and energy efficiency and to support technology transfer and climate finance

Towards Rio + 20Elements of a Global Initiative on Cities

• Mainstreaming mitigation/adaptation concerns into development policies and plans • Low carbon mobility and sustainable transport• Switching to green building practices through the

adoption of building energy codes

• Successful implementation of waste and water management policies• Strengthen legislation to secure water quality• Utilize economic instruments• Implement the 3Rs in waste management• Change consumption patterns to avoid waste

generation

Towards Rio + 20Elements of a Global Initiative on Cities

• Promote planned growth• Advocate public participation and

consultation• Utilize smarter growth policies (e.g.

Incentives for relocation)• Adopt sustainable land management

• Upscale efforts on protected area expansion and species conservation

Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (DTIE) United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)15, rue de Milan, 75441 Paris Cedex 09, FranceE-mail : unep.tie@unep.org Web: www.unep.fr

Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA)United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi, 00100, KenyaE-Mail: geo-head@unep.orgWeb: www.unep.org/dewa

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