How cities can become carbon neutral within a decade

By Jim Leffman via SWNS

Cities can become carbon neutral within a decade by creating more parks and roof gardens.

Along with streetscaping, these innovations can not only capture carbon but reduce it to net zero.

Suggestions in the study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change include urban farming, permeable pavements which let rainwater into the ground, narrower roads with more greenery and trees and wildlife habitat preservation.

Creating better environments to encourage walking and cycling will also help.

The team say blending these steps with other climate actions can enable cities to reach net-zero carbon and actually reduce emissions by an average of 17.4 percent.

Zahra Kalantari, an associate professor in Water and Environmental Engineering at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm says the researchers focused on the indirect ways that so-called “nature-based solutions” can contribute to carbon neutrality.

She said: “Nature-based solutions not only offset a proportion of a city’s emissions, but can contribute to reduction in emissions and resource consumption too."

For example, urban parks, greenspace and trees promote more walking, cycling and other environmentally positive habits that replace driving.

Combined with other solutions like green infrastructure, these measures can further improve urban microclimates by absorbing heat and cold, and as a result reduce energy use in buildings.

The study also provides guidance on which measures should be prioritized and where to locate them for the best effect.

For example, in Berlin the study recommends prioritizing green buildings and urban green spaces, which could result in an emissions reduction rate of six percent for residences, 13 percent in industry and 14 percent in transportation.

Kalantari added: “There are many studies that examine the effects of individual nature-based solutions, but this merges all of them and analyses the potential systemic effect. That’s new.”