Climate Change and Role of Sustainable Cities - Essay Example

Climate Change and Role of Sustainable Cities [Type the document sub overview As cities and national governments cannot act alone to effectively tackle climate change, a framework for understanding the linkages across multiple levels of government and with the private sector and non-governmental stakeholders is needed. This research would address on the issues of climate change and sustainable cities through a national to international perspective and a scientific conceptual framework which is followed by these sustainable cities in response to mitigation and adaptation to climate change. The two cities on which the paper is focused are: London and the New York. It would be elicited that how these cities respond to the issues of mitigation and climatic changes. Further the paper will elaborate the features of climate change initiative launched by UN-Habitat. Factors which bring together the local and national government and the challenges faced by different governments would be described. Role of London The issues related to the control of climate changes and mitigation in London is controlled by its mayor and he governs by presenting policies and strategies that could help to resolve these problematic issues. In October 2011, the mayor of London is accordance with the GLA Group and assembly members presented the strategy to cover up the issue of mitigation to climate change and energy factors. The basic factor which is focused is the “LOW CARBON FUTURE” (London.Gov.Uk 2011). The climate change act was adopted by the government in 2008 and it majorly focused on the reduction of gas emission from the U.K house by 80% till 2050. This goal is not easy to obtain and its achievement requires huge radical changes in the life styles of people, infrastructure of state and the services that are availed. To make the achievement of this goal possible and to initiate the actions the government of London involved City London Corporation to develop a structure on how the future with low carbon should be (City of London 2008). The structure which was developed is as follow: A low carbon environment is where people use the transport which is environment friendly such as more focus on cycling and walking. Plus the public transport would be made efficient and enjoyable to use. The development of building should be done in such a way which serves as energy efficient tools with the supporting features such as the incorporating of renewable energy generation systems and systems for rain water harvesting as the essential features of the business. Urban areas would be developed in such a way that they present more greenery and the air serves as fresh and healthy feature. Further the availability of readily available products to reduce the use and omission of carbon from lifestyles and the business practices. Business will include the low carbon transport operations and they would as well focus on developing a low carbon economy. Collaboration: The city of London cooperation fully supported the aim of reducing carbon so it could be evaluated that governments and other co-operations are required to collaborate and make joint efforts because not any single party can solely workout on the entire problem. Combined efforts and attempts to resolve the problems are mandatory. So the city of London cooperation and government of London collaborated in developing the targets for achieving low carbon economy. The goals that were set are: in short term to reduce the consumption by 15% till 2015 and the long term goal is to reduce the consumption by 34% till 2020. Further collaborative efforts were done by city of London cooperation such as it is engaged in encouraging and supporting the further communities within the area to reduce the carbon and develop economy in new style. Another long term goal developed was to reduce the emission by 60% from green house gas of U.K. Another collaboration of City of London cooperation was made with the mayor of London and after that collaboration he presented the strategies in the assembly to reduce the supply of carbon dioxide to the London. The strategies presented by him: Homes with energy efficient measures to reduce the energy bills people pay. Restructuring the public sectors Building carbon low zones to reduce the emissions Decentralising the entire program to make carbon supply 25% from the low carbon zones (London.Gov.Uk 2011). Problems: The major problem behind the entire program is that the emission of carbons from the air impact environment badly. Such as these emissions affect the urban atmosphere and make it unhealthy and polluted for the people. It makes it air poisonous and rather than making fresh germs are inserted into the people’s body. Further due to these wastes the climatic changes are huge. Due to the emissions the layers protecting the earth from the harmful rays are getting removed creating threats for the entire world (ozontherapie.com 2013). Risk Assessment: Government of U.K performed its risk assessment in 2012. In this risk assessment, the risks to each sector were evaluated. Some major risks that have become a challenge for the U.K’s government are: the construction processes of the building and house is affected by the floods etc, pumping requirements are huge, there could be a damage to the power infrastructure, there is a risk the pollution might increase due to drainage, further there is an extra pressure build on the networks operating underground and damages to the security networks and information technology systems (16 Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation 2012). the role of new york The citizens of New York and government of United States have made tremendous investments in protecting and keeping an open eye towards the climate change of New York. New York is considered to be one of the main cities of United States of America, and in the past this city has seen vast changes regarding its environmental issues (Environment New York 2014). Problems: The temperature of New York and other related cities are raising day by day all because of air pollution resulting in deflection in ozone. This deflection in ozone is making people more exposed to ultra valet rays. All because of this, there is an increasing rate of asthma in New York. The government of USA and city government of New York has recently taken strict actions against industrial sites, and has asked them to openly announce the amount of carbon dioxide they emit yearly. Further, the main problem which New York City is facing these days is high quantity of carbon dioxide in the air, which may affect many fields of work. As the temperature is rising in New York, its greenish images are disappearing from the book. For instance, more and more trees are expected to disappear in a coming future all because of high temperature. Apart from that due to such climate change, New York City is at 10-20% at risk of forest fire (Environment New York 2014) and (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation 2014). Collaborations: To make work more effective, the government is trying to make better relationships with industrial and private sector regarding climate and mitigation issues and further, the New York government has asked big players and companies to get ready to pay for the amount of carbon they emit, if they opposed the orders. New Yorks department of environmental conservation and different officials are getting ready to take strict actions against companies who pollute environment to limit global warming emissions from highly polluted power plants and to invest in more green projects such as clean energy which are highly environmental friendly. New York has been facing this problem since many decades, and now they are looking forward to more reliable and eco friendly projects which emits less gasses and are highly environmental friendly (World Media Foundation 2014). Policies: Recently New York has adopted some good policies which include: putting a cap on the global warming emissions, more eco friendly cars, investing more in environmental friendly renewable energy and tough rules for industries. Apart from that northeast regional greenhouse gas initiative has been taken by the government to protect the city from climate changes and keep it clean (Environment New York 2014). Regional greenhouse gas initiative is one of a good decision made by the government to resolve the issues of carbon dioxide. It was made in 2005, when New York officials joined their hands with Connecticut, Delaware and other states in the northeast side of United States of America to fight against global warming. RGGI has played significant role in reducing global warming up to some extend by asking power plants and other highly producing carbon companies to reduce their quantity and invest more in eco friendly and environmental friendly programs. RGGI is consider a model for the country, so other companies in other states of United States of America could look at, and implement it. Apart from that, this program has created more than 4620 new jobs and more than $326 million in economic growth in New York. Along with that New York City and its government has taken initiative to build eco friendly apartments and building which in return could benefit the environment and climate. One of its kinds of example is a new apartment building, known as Solaire, located in lower Manhattan. The whole building is covered with photovoltaic cells which captured sunrays and turn it into electricity resulting in less relaying on power plants that emit high gasses. These features make Solaire 35-40% more energy efficient than any other apartment in New York. Moreover, photovoltaic cells within the apartments are supposed to provide more than 5% of the buildings total energy. Furthermore, New York department of environmental and conservative is taking initiative to step forward and take the advantage of technology i.e. solar energy. The department is trying their best to rely more on solar energy. As solar energy is environmental friendly and has no such significant affects on climate. Further, mayor of New York launched a new program by the name of plaNYC which has vision of greener and greater New York City. Their sole purpose is to reduce the citys dangerous gases by 30% by 2030. In 2013, PlaNYC published their report, telling about their last six year progress. This report states that New York has launched a municipal brown field’s cleanup program and an innovative green infrastructure program, to reduce the citys pollution and enhance the beauty of the city. The report also discusses the drop in dangerous gases by 16% which is near to their goal of 30% by 2030 (Environment New York 2014). In 2014, a work has been done by the collaboration of New York City office of emergency management (OEM) and department of city planning of New York City against New York City hazard mitigation plan (HMP). The hmp pays emphasizes on hazard that the New York City is facing these days and strategies to reduce those hazard. The 2014 HMP is an updated version of 2009 New York City natural hazard mitigation plan. These are few of the plans introduce by the New York City government (Environment New York 2014). Challenges: The city is facing huge problem implementing them especially programs related to energy. Many of the industrialist and big companies owners are demanding to reduce the strictness in the law and trying to modify the strategies and policies according to their own need and benefit. Especially the solar energy project has faced the biggest criticism from big companies who are working in energy field. Under such a huge pressure from industrialist and big companies owners, the city government of New York is trying their best to implement all of their strategies which could benefit New York, climate and the people of the country (CARDWELL & WALD 2014). climate change initiative by un-habitat As the issue is no more national or local and climatic affects are affecting the people worldwide, UN-habitat is making efforts internationally. UN- habitat is a system which through its cities focuses on supporting the local governments to respond more quickly and efficiently to the climatic threats that are faced by the cities and people living in them. Further it focuses on reducing the emissions of the gases to control the climatic conditions. It is currently operating in the 40 cities and it fully supports and guides the development process of the vulnerability plans and actions that should be made to change climates and their affects. Further, it supports policies which are established with the aim to integrate local and national governments in solving this issue. Such as there are the Capacity Development Programs which are established in collaboration with training institutes of local governments and universities. (UN-Habitat 2013) conclusion Climatic changes have become a serious concern for all the nations and states. After the paper it could be evaluated that local and international governments have to collaborate with each other and with the other private and public corporations to resolve these problems. This issue is not just a national issue but international efforts are being made by UN-Habitat to control the affects of climatic changes and changes in climates. London and New York both the states are making efforts at their own levels and through the comparison it could be evaluated that the goals developed by both the states are more or less similar but the nature of challenges faced by the both the states is different. London has not yet built any building or energy efficient structure whereas New York excels at this point. recommendations For London: Although there are strong targets and goals but the efforts to achieve those goals are not that visible. Government should make strong efforts to achieve its goals. It should make its operations efficient to reduce the emissions and consumption of gases by the time it decided. Further the government should take precautionary measure to protect its systems and people which are at threat. For New York: New York government should focus on making communications clear with the business holders and criticizers and they should spotlight the use and advantages of solar systems. Government is collaboration with the local institutes can make awareness campaigns which will help to increase the awareness of benefits to people resulting through the initiatives by the government. Further there should be security checks to control the emissions and precautions should be made to protect people at threats. references 16 Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation 2012, viewed 23 April 2014, . CARDWELL, D & WALD, ML 2014, A Huge Solar Plant Opens, Facing Doubts About Its Future, viewed 23 April 2014, . City of London 2008, Climate change mitigation strategies. Environment New York 2014, Global Warming Solutions, viewed 23 April 2014, . London.Gov.Uk 2011, Delivering Londons Energy Future: the Mayors climate change mitigation and energy strategy, viewed 23 April 2014, . London.Gov.Uk 2011, Limiting further climate change, viewed 23 April 2014, . New York State Department of Environmental Conservation 2014, Why the Climate is Changing Climate Science and the Impacts of a Changing Climate, viewed 23 April 2014, . ozontherapie.com 2013, Layers of the Atmosphere, viewed 23 April 2014, . UN-Habitat 2013, Programmes / Cities and Climate Change Initiative (C.C.C.I), viewed 23 April 2014, . World Media Foundation 2014, Degrees of Concern – Climate Change and New York City’s Future, viewed 23 April 2014, . Read More