15 minute cities: ENERGIZING CITY CLIMATE ACTION
BY BLOOMBERG AND THE EU
In a horrible play on words, like this is all a game, the Report titled ‘Energizing City Climate Action’, references the Energy Crisis as propelling climate change action. They reference that the single biggest catalyst is the crisis in Ukraine.
So if you read and read between the lines the Energy Crisis is the RAISON D’ETRE to help solidify their oppressions.
They reference that cities are the best place to enforce their goals on the populace. So the response is that your cities are where you have to get most involved.
https://www.globalcovenantofmayors.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2022-GCoM-Impact-Report.pdf
ENERGIZING CITY CLIMATE ACTION 2022 Impact Report
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
“The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) is the world’s largest alliance for city climate leadership with over 12,500 signatories, across 144 countries. Over 1 billion people - one person in every eight - lives in a city that is committed to GCoM.
This report showcases the commitments that GCoM cities and local governments are making to reduce emissions and build resilience to climate change, and the ambitious actions being taken across sectors.
In 2022, GCoM cities and local governments - like the rest of the world – have experienced crises relating to escalating inflation, unemployment, disruption to food and other resource supplies, the continuing impact of COVID-19 and more.
This report particularly focuses on how GCoM signatories are responding to the interlinked crises of dramatic spikes in energy prices combined with ever more extreme weather events.
With climate mitigation targets that are projected to reduce global emissions by 4.1 GtCO2e in 2050, GCoM signatories are already taking action. This year, GCoM cities and local governments have reported hundreds of thousands of practical actions to increase energy savings, invest in renewable energy generation, address energy access, and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
The current energy crisis has the potential to be a catalyst for transformational change.
Drawing on the findings, this report calls for cities, national governments, civil society and the private sector to come together to accelerate bold and ambitious climate action by
(i) sharing best-practice; [15 minute cities]
(ii) harnessing co-benefits; [lock us down, save on energy, create an economy by designation]
(iii) increasing collaboration; and [use apps]
(iv) funding energy retrofit. [create oppressive by-laws which require enormous investment to ‘save on carbon’ when the price of energy and interest rates, and economy are already weaponized against citizens']
The GCoM links more and more like-minded city and local government leaders together, building an ever-stronger movement for transformative change. The report concludes by highlighting the forthcoming Energy Access and Poverty Pillar and associated badge which will be launched by the GCoM in January 2023. This launch complements an extensive programme of work to help GCoM signatories develop and strengthen their climate ambition: GCoM, the regional covenants and all our partners continue to energize city climate action.
CHAPTER 01 PROGRESS DESPITE GLOBAL AND LOCAL CHALLENGES RECIFE, BRAZIL 04
• PROGRESS DESPITE GLOBAL AND LOCAL CHALLENGES
The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) is the world’s largest alliance for city climate leadership with over 12,500 signatories, across 144 countries. Over the past 12 months, the alliance has attracted over 900 new cities and local governments. Over 1 billion people - one person in every eight - lives in a city that is committed to GCoM. 05 •
Committed cities and local governments pledge to implement policy and undertake measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, prepare for climate impacts, increase sustainable energy access and track progress towards these objectives. [and track citizens through micromanagement]
The GCoM cities and local governments show ambition to take action on climate change – both to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in line with the Paris Agreement goals, and to increase their resilience to future climate hazards.
Our latest data show that over three quarters of GCoM signatories have earned their mitigation badge, and one fifth have earned their adaptation badge. These badges recognise the effort and progress made by cities throughout their GCoM journey. GCoM cities and local governments continue to take steps through their acknowledgement about the urgency of climate action, independently of other challenges or agendas.
CITIES Three steps Three steps Almost 78% of the GCoM signatories have taken concrete steps to reduce emissions, increase resilience or both.
PROGRESS DESPITE GLOBAL AND LOCAL CHALLENGES • ENERGIZING CITY CLIMATE ACTION KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA GROWTH AND PROGRESS DESPITE GLOBAL AND LOCAL CHALLENGES CHAPTER 01
While COVID-19, escalating inflation, unemployment and resource scarcity – among other factors – continue to affect cities globally, rising energy prices and more extreme weather events have particularly cast light on the need for a clean energy transition and enhanced climate resilience for critical infrastructure.
Spot prices for most energy inputs have increased dramatically over the past year, with natural gas increasing by 65%, oil by 21% and coal by 126% from the start of 2022 to the time of writing. While the epicentres of this shock have been in Europe and China, the crisis has rippled around the world.
Petrol stations ran dry in Yaoundé, Cameroon [1], fuel prices jumped by 50% in Bangladesh affecting food and other supplies into Dhaka from surrounding regions [2], and a government attempt to remove energy subsidies resulted in two weeks of protests in cities across Ecuador [3].
The single biggest factor is the conflict in Ukraine and its impact on the natural gas market in Europe.
Yet a series of diverse emergencies have fed into this larger crisis, including output problems at French nuclear power plants, and droughts in Brazil and China which reduced hydroelectric output. This energy crisis has been further exacerbated by extreme weather, directly linked to climate change. Europe and North America baked in extreme heat and suffered from severe droughts.
Hurricanes battered the Caribbean, the USA and Canada, and the monsoon left much of Pakistan underwater. The repercussions were widespread. In September, the Governor of California ordered emergency warnings to be sent to 27 million people in cities across the state, urging them to avoid non-essential power use to protect against energy supply outages as temperatures soared and energy demand sky-rocketed [4]. Rolling power outages of 6-8 hours per day affected Islamabad and Rawalpindi in March due to extreme heat [5], while heavy rains and floods later in the year disrupted supplies once again due to damage at more than 20 power stations [6].
These intertwined crises only reinforce the need to end our reliance on fossil fuels, and instead opt for secure, sustainable and affordable energy generated locally; an objective that the GCoM alliance has long supported.
This would largely eliminate cities’ exposure to volatile oil and gas prices in the global market. Indeed, the price of fossil fuels increased at a much faster rate than the price of renewables in the last quarter of 2021 [7].
At the same time, the need to invest in resilient infrastructure has been made shockingly clear in 2022; local energy generation and district scale solutions offer one way to guard against impacts across the wider network.
Cities and local governments are best placed to lead on addressing the energy crisis, providing relief to residents and accelerating the green transition through local action.
In this report, we draw on data provided by GCoM signatories to showcase the ambitious commitments and actions being taken across sectors, and particularly in relation to the energy crisis. Climate and energy action can propel GCoM signatories towards low emission and resilient cities - with secure, affordable and sustainable energy.
CHAPTER 03 HIGH-RISK HAZARDS AFFECTING THE ENERGY SECTOR
Extreme hot temperature Extreme precipitation Flood and sea level rise Drought Wild fire OUTSIDE TOP 5 35.8% 12.8% 11.0% 11.0% 10.0%
Extreme hot temperature is the number one high-risk hazard impacting the energy sector. 14 •
The most common hazard affecting the energy sector is extreme heat, accounting for 36% of all hazards affecting energy. Among other impacts, extreme heat may cause droughts that make hydroelectric dams untenable, or lead to blackouts as grids become overwhelmed by sudden demand for energy for cooling. Flood and sea level rise (13%), drought (11%) and wild fire (11%) were also major concerns due to the physical damage they can cause.
Energy infrastructure underpins the majority of the critical infrastructure that supports urban life, including transport networks, ICT services, water and wastewater distribution, healthcare and emergency services. When energy supplies are compromised, the resilience of a city can be dangerously undermined. Nevertheless, the IEA reports that 25% of its members’ or association members’ national climate or energy plans do not address the climate resilience of energy infrastructure [16]. This puts the responsibility on sub-national governments – including cities – to take action
But get this: Ukraine is a major issue for Energy shortages, which are helping to impose a zero carbon ‘life-style” on cities in order that individuals reduce their carbon BUT eliminating the war would eliminate more carbon.
Huh. I wonder if its not really about carbon. What it could be about?
This is so hard to follow.
“Amplify4Cities: Inspire citizens and policymakers alike towards meaningful climate actions.
Invest4Cities: Enhance and accelerate city and local government access to financial resources.
Data4Cities: Develop, maintain, and manage the data underpinning the GCoM alliance, partnering networks and cities, and highlighting the progress and power of cities.
Innovate4Cities: Tackle the information and technology gaps cities have prioritized to drive science-based replicable action and sustainable innovation at the scale the world demands, and those cities need.
Mobilize4Cities: Provide expertise via local, national, and international specialists to enable urban action along the city climate journey and across regional contexts.
This graphic below is the single most important graphic to understand the future ‘plotted for us’.
Please like, share and support my work. Our timeline requires us to systematically break all these chains.
LOCAL IS IT My beautiful wonderful readers, full of hope, and fight. Full of endurance, and love. Full of NOT TAKING SHIT from the top. Do you know what an amazing accident it is to be alive and it was afforded to each of us. That is always precious. That is yours, irrespective of what they intend, life is beautiful, inspiring and your gift. God Bless each and every one of you, even you spooks.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/worldeconomicforum/2016/11/10/shopping-i-cant-really-remember-what-that-is-or-how-differently-well-live-in-2030/?sh=5a7155071735
Another topic people don't pay attention to is the traveling, in vacations or not, which since years ago became controversal, if this is a right or not or a privilage, culminating with turists are only distroying the environment and the peace of communities.