Urban areas are increasingly perceived as key players in responding to climate change, as they have both the control of critical sources of gas emissions and are the scale at which the potentially catastrophic impacts of climate change will play out. In this perspective European and US cities have started since the middle of 2000’s to define local plans both in terms of mitigation and adaptation to the new climate scenarios. The nature of these plans is extremely variegated, in some cases are related with specific legislations (at different levels of governments), in some other cases are promoted at city level by the initiative of the mayor. The European Union committed itself to reducing its overall emissions to at least 20 % below 1990 levels by 2020, lauching at the same time the program “Covenant of Mayors” initiative by which towns, cities and regions voluntarily commit to reducing their CO2 emissions beyond this 20 % target. More than 4000 European cities are preparing these plans mainly oriented to mitigation with some interesting results in terms of interactions with the planning systems in the different countries. In US the situation is well described in some papers published by JAPA in the last years, among the others: S. Wheeler (2008), W. J. Drummond (2011). A number of city level governments is currently involved in climate plans definition. Which are the main differences between the European and US approach in terms of climate planning? Which lessons can be acquired by the two cases?
Climate plans in European and US cities: a comparative perspective
MUSCO, FRANCESCO
2012-01-01
Abstract
Urban areas are increasingly perceived as key players in responding to climate change, as they have both the control of critical sources of gas emissions and are the scale at which the potentially catastrophic impacts of climate change will play out. In this perspective European and US cities have started since the middle of 2000’s to define local plans both in terms of mitigation and adaptation to the new climate scenarios. The nature of these plans is extremely variegated, in some cases are related with specific legislations (at different levels of governments), in some other cases are promoted at city level by the initiative of the mayor. The European Union committed itself to reducing its overall emissions to at least 20 % below 1990 levels by 2020, lauching at the same time the program “Covenant of Mayors” initiative by which towns, cities and regions voluntarily commit to reducing their CO2 emissions beyond this 20 % target. More than 4000 European cities are preparing these plans mainly oriented to mitigation with some interesting results in terms of interactions with the planning systems in the different countries. In US the situation is well described in some papers published by JAPA in the last years, among the others: S. Wheeler (2008), W. J. Drummond (2011). A number of city level governments is currently involved in climate plans definition. Which are the main differences between the European and US approach in terms of climate planning? Which lessons can be acquired by the two cases?
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