Code red: How cities can lead the way on climate action

The document asserts that cities are central to the climate battle because they account for over 70 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions despite occupying only 2 percent of the world's land area. It proposes four primary levers for urban action: empowering youth through technology for better data-driven planning, integrating resilience into urban planning and zoning for future developments, linking capital-investment planning to revenue and resilience, and increasing green spaces to mitigate heat and flooding.

• Cities have a disproportionate impact on global emissions and energy use, consuming more than two-thirds of the world's energy and producing over 70 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, while occupying only 2 percent of the world's land area.
• Urban youth can be leveraged to produce hyper-local information via technology skills, which can be integrated into city data-management systems to improve planning and investments.
• There is a significant opportunity to influence the spatial pattern of new developments for the year 2050 by integrating resilience into urban planning and enforcing zoning and codes.
• Cities should prioritize capital investments that simultaneously increase public revenue and enhance resilience, while utilizing better inventories of land and buildings to drive revenue creation.
• Increasing green spaces within the urban fabric can address the systemic risks of the global nature crisis, reduce urban heat and flooding, and improve climate resilience.

APA

Holm-Nielsen, N. (2021). Code red: How cities can lead the way on climate action. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/cities-must-use-their-resources-immediately-to-save-the-planet-here-s-how/

Chicago

Holm-Nielsen, Niels. Code red: How cities can lead the way on climate action. World Economic Forum, 2021. https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/cities-must-use-their-resources-immediately-to-save-the-planet-here-s-how/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Holm-Nielsen |first1=Niels |title=Code red: How cities can lead the way on climate action |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=27 September 2021 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/cities-must-use-their-resources-immediately-to-save-the-planet-here-s-how/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{holmnielsen2021code, author = {Holm-Nielsen, Niels}, title = {{Code red: How cities can lead the way on climate action}}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2021}, month = sep, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/cities-must-use-their-resources-immediately-to-save-the-planet-here-s-how/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }