Transition to low-carbon city
Context:
- A staggering 29 trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide were released into the sky by cities in 2020. Low-carbon cities are essential to reducing the effects of climate change because of the considerable environmental impact that cities have.
Carbon-neutral city:
- A low-carbon city, also known as a decarbonized city, is one that relies on energy sources that emit little or no greenhouse gases (GHGs).
- Since the middle of the 20th century, GHG emissions brought on by human activity have been the primary source of observable climate change.
- We must incorporate mitigation and adaptation solutions across numerous sectors if we want to transition to low-carbon or even net-zero cities. This method, known as the “sector-coupling approach,” is essential to decarbonizing metropolitan systems.
Transitions in the energy system:
- Urban carbon dioxide emissions might be reduced by about 74% with an energy system transformation.
- We have also overcome the financial and technological barriers to implementing low-carbon solutions thanks to quick developments in clean energy and related technologies as well as plummeting prices.
- Both the supply and demand sides must accomplish the transition.
- The use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology as well as the phase-out of fossil fuels and an increase in the proportion of renewable energy sources in the energy mix are supply-side mitigation strategies.
- Utilising the ‘avoid, shift, improve’ concept would mean lowering the demand for resources and energy and replacing them with renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels.
- Second, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology must be used to eliminate residual emissions in the energy industry.
- Indeed, we have the necessary tools and knowledge to implement energy transitions to create net-zero urban systems.
Strategies:
- Depending on a city’s features, different mitigation and low-carbon adaptation measures are used.
- This is an important factor to take into account when developing socially and environmentally just energy transition policies. A city’s spatial form, land-use pattern, level of development, and level of urbanisation are among these factors.
- An existing city can upgrade and repurpose its infrastructure to improve energy efficiency and encourage both active transportation like walking and bicycling as well as public transportation.
- In fact, electrifying public transport and establishing district cooling and heating networks based on renewable energy sources can both dramatically reduce energy demand in walkable cities created for people.
- A rapidly expanding city can attempt to co-locate housing and employment by designing the city in a way that brings workplaces closer to residential communities, so lowering the need for transportation energy.
- With the help of energy-efficient services, infrastructure, and an urban design that prioritises the needs of its residents, new and rising cities have the greatest potential to cut emissions.
- They can also enforce building regulations that demand net-zero energy usage, modify already-existing structures, and gradually transition to low-emission building materials.
Merely an energy transition:
- Energy systems are connected to livelihoods, local economic growth, and the socioeconomic well-being of people working in many industries both directly and indirectly.
- Therefore, a one-size-fits-all strategy is unlikely to guarantee a transition that is both socially and environmentally just.
- Generally speaking, the energy supply must be balanced against the rapidly rising energy demand (caused, for example, by urbanisation), the requirement for energy security, and exports.
- Land expropriation associated to large-scale renewable energy projects, the spatial concentration of poverty, the marginalisation of particular communities, gendered effects, and the dependence on coal for subsistence are further justice-related issues.
Conclusion:
- A commitment to social equity and justice is essentially what it means to transition to low-carbon cities. Because of this, we need to take into account the complicated, diverse problems that exist in many situations and places and create a comprehensive strategy that pays attention to a range of viewpoints and experiences.
