According the report, a number of cities are seeing heat as a top risk. Not just in terms of the use of more power for air conditioning but as a health risk. Europe’s catastrophic heat wave of 2003 (to which was attributed by some estimates approximately 70,000 deaths) remains a signal event in alerting cities to the public health threat presented by extended periods of high temperatures, particularly among the elderly and infirmed.
Heat waves and increased temperatures already threaten many cities—regardless of their average temperatures. Of the 13 cities with cool average temperatures (between 0° and 10°), nine report heat waves and rising temperatures as risks. This group includes Stockholm, which reports that more frequent heat waves pose threats to human health and may cause more deaths over the medium-term. High percentages of cities in warmer climates also report facing risks from rising temperatures.
The report also shows that the concept of measuring city-wide emissions annually is catching on. Fifteen cities measure their city-wide emissions and report them annually, including San Francisco, London, and New York City. Fifty-one out of the 73 cities that reported to CDP this year (70%) disclosed city-wide emissions inventories. This number represents a small increase from last year’s report, in which 31 out of 48 cities (65%) reported city-wide inventories. At least one city from every region of the world reports an emissions inventory, with North America and Europe showing the highest percentages of emissions-reporting cities.
All in all, the results show a positive direction toward a municipal economies that can realize financial advantages while addressing the most pressing environmental and social concerns of our age.
Gary Lawrence is chief sustainability officer and vice president of AECOM Technology Corp. You can follow Gary on Twitter @CSO_AECOM. The full report can be found here.
