In a new Nature Cities paper with Tanya O'Garra, Viktoriya Kuz, Andrew Deneault and Christopher Orr, we focus on the impact of COVID-19 on the climate actions of 793 cities worldwide.
Despite funding challenges, cities's short-term climate commitments remained remarkably stable. Cities in throughout the Global South managed to increase their emphasis on climate action even if corresponding funding did not increase. Particularly, cities in East Asia, Africa, Southeast Asia and Oceania show high ambition in green recovery efforts, this was less the case with cities in Europe and North America.
Health co-benefits of climate action also helped cities to maintain climate action during the pandemic. Moreover, cities that are member in climate networks and/or partner with businesses in sustainability initiatives were more likely to maintain climate efforts during COVID-19, and to implement more green recovery measures.
O’Garra, T., Kuz, V., Deneault, A. et al. Early engagement and co-benefits strengthen cities’ climate commitments. Nat Cities (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-024-00052-6