What cities do best

The briefing identifies that city governments could reduce annual GHG emissions by up to 8 Gt CO2e by 2050 through coordinated action with national governments. It proposes a framework where cities lead in areas like spatial planning and transit (20% of potential), implement national standards in buildings (40%), and act as strategic partners for technology adoption like electric vehicles and solar PV (40%). The report emphasizes that national governments must remove financial, technical, and legal constraints to unlock this potential, providing specific examples of opportunities in China, the United States, and Brazil.

• City governments have the potential to significantly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, with estimates suggesting annual reductions of up to 3.7 gigatonnes (Gt) CO2e by 2030 and up to 8 Gt CO2e by 2050.
• Urban mitigation actions that are within the power of most city governments could account for up to 15% of the total global GHG reductions needed to maintain a 2°C warming pathway.
• In a coordinated approach, cities are best positioned as policy leaders and architects for approximately 20% of urban GHG abatement potential, specifically in the passenger transport sector through spatial planning, walking, bicycling, and transit development.
• Cities should serve as critical implementers for another 40% of abatement potential, primarily in the residential and commercial buildings sectors by enforcing national building energy codes and retrofit requirements.
• The remaining 40% of urban abatement potential can be realized by cities acting as strategic partners to enhance national policies, such as promoting electric vehicles, distributed energy systems, and methane capture at landfills.
• Urban building efficiency measures could potentially avoid the need for 260 GW of power supply in 2030 and 730 GW by 2050.
• National governments must provide 'enabling actions' to overcome city-level constraints, including establishing national policy frameworks, improving access to financial resources and private capital, building technical capacity, and aligning policies to eliminate conflicts.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (n.d.). What cities do best. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-Bloomberg-brief-2015-What-cities-do-best.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. What cities do best. n.d. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-Bloomberg-brief-2015-What-cities-do-best.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=What cities do best |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-Bloomberg-brief-2015-What-cities-do-best.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitutendwhat, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{What cities do best}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-Bloomberg-brief-2015-What-cities-do-best.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }