Cutting global carbon emissions: where do cities stand?

Cities contribute over 70% of global CO2 emissions, primarily through industrial and motorized transport systems. The authors argue that achieving the 1.5°C warming threshold requires massive urban decarbonization, which is currently hindered by a lack of directly measured emissions data. Most existing estimates rely on engineering parameters that may not be accurate for developing countries. To address this, the authors propose using satellite data from NASA’s OCO-2 platform combined with a predictive model that accounts for demographic, economic, and geographic differences to create performance ratings. Their research across 1,200 cities shows that performance varies by region, with cities in India and Western Europe exceeding expectations, while those in China and sub-Saharan Africa fall short.

• Cities are responsible for more than 70% of global CO2 emissions, largely due to motorized transport and industrial systems that rely on fossil fuels and carbon-intensive infrastructure.
• Current city emissions assessments are limited by a lack of direct measurement; consistent estimates exist for only about 80 cities, and many rely on models calibrated for high-income economies that may be inaccurate for developing nations.
• The authors utilized NASA’s OCO-2 satellite platform to measure CO2 emissions for over 1,200 cities with populations exceeding 500,000 across 138 countries.
• Analysis of city performance—the difference between actual satellite-measured emissions and expected emissions based on innate characteristics—reveals regional disparities: cities in India, Western Europe, and former Comecon countries generally outperform expectations, whereas those in China, East Asia & Pacific, the Middle East & North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa underperform.

APA

Dasgupta, S., Lall, S., & Wheeler, D. (2022). Cutting global carbon emissions: where do cities stand? World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/energy-transition/cutting-global-carbon-emissions-cities-climate-change-cop26/

Chicago

Dasgupta, Susmita, Somik Lall, and David Wheeler. Cutting global carbon emissions: where do cities stand? World Economic Forum, 2022. https://www.weforum.org/stories/energy-transition/cutting-global-carbon-emissions-cities-climate-change-cop26/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Dasgupta |first1=Susmita |last2=Lall |first2=Somik |last3=Wheeler |first3=David |title=Cutting global carbon emissions: where do cities stand? |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=13 January 2022 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/energy-transition/cutting-global-carbon-emissions-cities-climate-change-cop26/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{dasgupta2022cutting, author = {Dasgupta, Susmita and Lall, Somik and Wheeler, David}, title = {{Cutting global carbon emissions: where do cities stand?}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2022}, month = jan, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/energy-transition/cutting-global-carbon-emissions-cities-climate-change-cop26/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }