SPHERE 2: THE CITY PERSPECTIVE
Integrated sectors and the decarbonization of cities
Much of the infrastructure transition needs to happen in urban areas, but it’s difficult to make rapid progress. In our research, only 22% of senior executives say that the implementation of citywide smart grids is mature or advanced. And only 21% say the same for the expansion and integration of renewable energy.
Here, we look at how cities can speed up the infrastructure transition, and we find out how urban mobility connects much more than just points on a map.
Explore current progress and priorities across 15 city infrastructure transition goals and 14 regions
Explore current progress and priorities across 15 city infrastructure transition goals and 14 regions
Why focus on cities?
Cities are where everything comes together: industries, markets, and populations – as well as all the systems that support them. This makes urban areas major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. And reducing those emissions will involve the transformation of sectors such as transportation, buildings, and energy systems.
But this urban infrastructure transition is uniquely challenging. Cities are complex, clustered, large-scale, and always busy – they support more than 80% of global GDP. Overcoming these challenges is only growing more important: every year, urbanization and population growth increase the environmental footprint of cities.
World urban population
Each city is different, but there are common issues and infrastructure transition strategies that are only visible at city level. And there are opportunities for major leaps forward. Cities give us the chance to integrate different sectors and create truly joined-up infrastructure strategies. And, crucially, cities can often outpace national governments on change.
“Cities can possess remarkable agility and flexibility,” says Cassie Sutherland, Managing Director, Climate Solutions and Networks at C40 Cities. “A significant advantage that cities have over national governments is their ability to swiftly deliver and implement solutions – often on accelerated timelines. Mayors are at the forefront of this, because they have intimate knowledge of local needs and living conditions. Even in large cities, mayors can often act more promptly than their national counterparts.”
National governments play a crucial role in setting policies and creating a broader framework for action, but cities can use their greater agility, localized insights, and strong mayoral leadership to put climate solutions in place more swiftly and effectively.
51% agree that being ahead on decarbonization is a competitive advantage for cities
51% agree that being ahead on decarbonization is a competitive advantage for cities
Mobility is always a big issue in cities. It’s critical to economic growth, it consumes significant resources, and issues like congestion and pollution affect our quality of life.
So how can cities accelerate the decarbonization of mobility? Read our full report to find out how cities are transforming their public transit systems.
What comes first: more electric vehicles, or more charging infrastructure?
A minority of respondents (29%) say they are mature or advanced on citywide electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Some leaders feel like they can’t enact policies that favor EVs until there is widespread vehicle charging infrastructure. Others argue that if they stimulate demand for electric vehicles they will encourage faster roll-out of EV infrastructure.
“Infrastructure must come first for decarbonization,” says Matteo Craglia, Transport Analyst & Modeler at the International Transport Forum (ITF). “Without charging infrastructure, electric vehicles can’t be adopted. The same is true for low-carbon fuels. This is a challenge because there’s no demand for these fuels yet, which makes infrastructure projects financially risky. But governments must help to manage these risks by providing direction to the market and potentially subsidizing infrastructure in the short term. This will help to create demand and accelerate the decarbonization process.”
Progress on development of citywide electric vehicle charging infrastructure
No existing or planned activity: 10%
Planned but undeveloped: 34%
Emerging, isolated, small-scale: 28%
Maturing, semi-integrated, large-scale: 23%
Advanced, fully integrated, full-scale: 6%
Is there enough coordination between sectors?
The infrastructure transition forces stakeholders to collaborate more than ever before. In many places, sectors are not coordinating their work strategically – for example, between the transport sector and the electricity grid.
Most new energy investments are not integrated enough with wider infrastructure
Fixing these kinds of issues probably requires a comprehensive, government-driven approach. Historically, grid investments have been incremental: they have followed demand and aimed for stability and cost minimization.
Now, we need a new approach – especially when so few executives (26%) say that their cities are mature or advanced on the integration of city systems.
Electric trucks are expected to become cost competitive in the near future, which means the grid has to prepare. Building high-power grid connections for charging these vehicles can take seven to 10 years, so these conversations have to start now. Government involvement is crucial to making sure these collaborations are happening and to driving the preparations forward.
Matteo Craglia,
Transport Analyst & Modeler, International Transport Forum (ITF)
Can digitalization improve resource efficiency?
Cities are digitalizing and decarbonizing at the same time, which creates opportunities for the infrastructure transition to be enabled – and accelerated – by innovations in digital technology.
In our research, we explored these opportunities in terms of decarbonization, resource efficiency, and social impact.
The three technologies expected to have the biggest positive impact on decarbonization, resource efficiency, and social wellbeing over the next three years
Read our full report to find out more about which technologies could increase opportunities in these three areas.
