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Measuring of climate footprint by 533 cities, and more coming

Cities rush to measure climate footprint after Paris deal http://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-climatechange-cities-data-idUSKCN10F0D0 BARCELONA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) , 5 Aug 16 – The number of cities reporting on their efforts to tackle global warming has risen 70 percent to 533 around the world since the adoption of the Paris climate change agreement in 2015, the group collecting the data said.

The cities – which provide annual information on their planet-warming emissions, the climate hazards they face, renewable energy targets, risks to their water supply and other environmental aspects – now represent 621 million citizens globally, CDP said on Thursday.

“When cities measure their climate footprint and seek a sustainable path to green growth powered by clean energy, they take us all further towards the global transition to low emissions and resilient development,” said Patricia Espinosa, the new head of the U.N. climate change secretariat.

In December, 195 nations reached a deal to limit climate change by shifting from fossil fuels to green energies by 2100.

CDP, a UK-based non-profit formerly called the Carbon Disclosure Project, said more cities are doing an inventory of their greenhouse gas emissions, as a first step to managing their climate impact, amid growing awareness of climate risks.

Today four in 10 cities are measuring their emissions, compared with one in 10 cities in 2011, when CDP launched a program to help them reduce their emissions and adapt to climate change.CDP highlighted a nearly four-fold increase since last year in the number of African cities disclosing climate information, to 46 from 12.

Newcomers include Accra in Ghana, Kisumu in Kenya, Kinshasa in Democratic Republic of Congo and Antananarivo in Madagascar.

August 6, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, climate change