Cities and Climate Change: Experiences from U.S. Municipalities

Abstract

The United States executive that was elected in late 2016 has made it clear that fighting climate change is not among its priorities. Partly in response to this, several American cities have sped up their climate policies, some of which started being implemented years ago. The experience in U.S. cities suggests that the inefficiency of existing buildings is one of the key factors that must be addressed in order to reduce greenhouse gases at the local level, especially in cities with a high number of old buildings. Moreover, expanding the use of rooftop solar can contribute to reducing the consumption of fossil fuels.

Keywords:

cities, climate change, United States, green roofs, community-shared solar, energy efficiency, contaminated land