Climate action by cities around the world is resulting in co-benefits

In 2015, the Economics of Green Cities Programme at the London School of Economics in the U.K. published a working paper called “Co-benefits of urban climate action: A framework for cities” that includes a literature review of the state of knowledge regarding urban co-benefits for climate action, based on a review of actions by cities around the world. Overall, 116 co-benefits from 34 policy actions with a climate change adaptation focus were identified across 13 key urban sectors. The highest number of economic co-benefits from adaptation-related policies occurred in the health, land use and buildings sectors, and the highest number of social co-benefits generated from adaptation-related policies were recorded in the land use, health and education sectors. The highest number of environmental co-benefits from these policies was observed in the land use, water and food security sectors. Policies in other urban sectors were also found to generate co-benefits for climate change adaptation, GHG emissions reduction or both. Relatively high numbers of adaptation co-benefits were associated with policies in the following sectors: disaster and emergency management; food security; and tourism, culture and sport.

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