In recent years, sub-national actors, including cities and regions, have been given greater importance in international discussions. Researchers and policymakers alike recognize cities’ vulnerability to and their part in environmental degradation. In the wake of the recent C40 Mayors Summit in Mexico City demonstrated that mayors of cities around the world are also keen on creating sustainable urban environments that are low-carbon and energy-efficient.
Local governments have control over important areas of environmental policy and are home to a large number of population, economic activity, and political influence; they are in a good position to develop new climate solutions.
In Tokyo, For instance, the Tokyo metropolitan government put the first city-wide cap-and-trade system to measure buildings that are energy efficient. If the largest energy-consuming facilities fail to meet the specified standards, they will have to buy credits from facilities that meet the criteria and could sell the excess credits.
Citizens take advantage of Bogota’s weekly “Ciclovia — a car-free Sunday. Lombana/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA
The project is located in South Korea; Seoul’s Station 7017 Project will convert an elevated highway into a pedestrian pathway that connects the city’s center to the other districts and Seoul station. It will not just help revive certain areas of the town and areas, but it will also bring green spaces to the urban region.
There’s also Hamburg, the German City of Hamburg. Hamburg is working on a plan to eliminate cars from the city within the next 20 years by constructing the largest green network of bicycle and pedestrian trails that connect the city with its surrounding areas, as well as cemeteries, parks, playgrounds, and other public areas. Apart from making cars less necessary, these greenways will also increase the resilience of the city to flooding and natural disasters, as well as take in more CO2.
People have power
People have the potential to fight the climate change. This is especially true in the vital energy industry. As studies in the field have shown, “community power” encourages the participation of citizens in renewable energy projects, facilitates their implementation, decreases the demand for energy, and could eventually reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
This concept was the basis for the recently held World Community Power Conference that was held at Fukushima, Japan, from November 3-4, at and at the same time as Paris Agreement was ratified. The conference that was the only one of this kind, participants from local governments, academia as well as civil society businesses, and even schools analyzed how communities could be the agents of sustainability improvement on a local scale.
The event was organized through The Japan Community Power Association as well as which is part of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies and the World Wind Energy Association. Participants discussed questions ranging from energy democracy and regional cooperation to the community power’s benefits for developing nations. There were barriers to collaboration between local authorities, businesses, citizens, and local governments were also discussed.
Fukushima in Japan, in which the 2011 tsunami and earthquake resulted in a nuclear plant meltdown, was a symbolic location for hosting. After the disaster, local authorities took the decision to implement the goal of achieving 100 sustainable energy sources by the year 2040. In order to achieve this, residents, companies, and local government officials are cooperating to make wind and solar their main energy sources.
The partnership takes the shape of a variety of community-based projects. For instance, in the Fukushima Airport Solar Power Project the citizens participated as part-time financiers) for buying and installing solar panels that will generate around 1.2 megawatts of power at the terminal. Another project within the prefecture, known as the Fukushima Ryozen Citizens’ Joint Power Plant, made use of citizens’ funds to assist farmers in setting up solar farms. It generates around 50 kilowatts of electricity.
