Richmond, United KingdomTheme 2009: Improving City Climates
Climate change is happening and represents one of the greatest environmental, social and economic threats facing our planet. For a lot of top environmental and economic experts, it is the ultimate defining challenge confronting mankind and must be addressed immediately, quickly and with long-term goals.
In its latest assessment report, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that even with current climate change mitigation policies and related sustainable development practices, global greenhouse gas emissions will continue to grow over the next few decades. These emissions, which mainly comprise carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), are causing global temperature increases. A rise in global sea levels, more frequent and intenser storms, floods, droughts as well as bush fires, changes in ecosystems and increases in infectious diseases are the inevitable consequences. Urban areas will have to meet some additional, very specific challenges, e.g. set up health systems, plan green corridors able to handle the effects of heat waves, etc.
Our current travel behaviour mainly relies on the use of fossil fuel-powered vehicles, which makes the transport sector a major source of CO2 emissions. Although the latest technological developments regarding clean and energy-efficient means of transport, alternative fuels as well as intelligent transportation systems look promising, the effects of global warming can only be countered by making the change towards more sustainable transport modes such as cycling, walking, public transport, car sharing and car pooling.
2009 could mark an especially crucial year for combating climate change. The eyes of the world are turning to Europe – and to Denmark in particular – with high hopes. The United Nations Climate Change Conference to pass a follow-up agreement of the Kyoto Protocol will be held in the Danish capital of Copenhagen this coming December, and will bind the undersigned nations to legal commitments such as reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
