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Concepts that support climate neutrality city targets (combine several solutions together)

A concept is a principle or an idea, which supports climate neutrality city targets, that can combine several solutions together.

Below several concepts that can help in decarbonizing cities are presented by the Net Zero Cities experts:

  1.  By accounting for all three scopes of GHG emissions in a city's inventory, policymakers and stakeholders can get a more complete picture of the city's carbon footprint and prioritize mitigation strategies accordingly. For example, a city may focus on reducing scope 1 emissions (e.g. from city-owned vehicles) and scope 2 emissions (e.g. from electricity use) in the short term, while also working to reduce scope 3 emissions (e.g. from the embodied carbon in imported building materials) over the long term. By tackling emissions across all three scopes, cities can make more progress toward achieving their climate neutrality targets. More aspects are described in the concept GHG emissions / Scope 1, 2 & 3
  2. Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies can help cities achieve negative emissions, which are essential for achieving climate neutrality and offsetting the residual emissions that cannot be avoided (e.g. from industries). By capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere with Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) technologies and storing it permanently in plants, soils, oceans, or other long-lived products, CDR can help offset the remaining emissions that cannot be eliminated through other mitigation strategies. Carbon Capture Utilisation (CCU) can, later on, be used for the production of biogas with green hydrogen. In addition to its climate benefits, CDR can also have co-benefits such as improving air and water quality, supporting biodiversity (for nature-based removals), and promoting sustainable land use practices.

  3. Smart grid technologies can help cities better manage their electricity supply and demand, reduce energy waste, and integrate renewable energy sources. By using sensing infrastructure, smart metering, and other data-driven techniques, cities can optimize their energy systems to reduce costs and emissions. Additionally, smart grid technologies can promote energy equity by enabling more distributed energy resources and allowing low-income households to access affordable and reliable energy services.

  4. The 15-minute city concept aims to reduce the need for long-distance travel by ensuring that essential services and amenities are within a short walking or cycling distance from residents' homes. By promoting more compact and connected urban development, the 15-minute city can reduce traffic congestion, air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, it can enhance social cohesion and promote healthy and active lifestyles by creating more walkable and bikeable neighborhoods.

  5. The exploitation of Industrial symbiosis to promote the valorization of waste, improvement of resource efficiency, and reduction of environmental impact with the exchange of products, by-products and/or waste between different industries. 

  6. Analyzing interdependencies of water, energy, food and natural resources (soil, land) with the Nexus approach to provide integrated cross-sectorial assessments to face multi-agent and multi-scale conflicts, hence contributing to prioritize security in all essential sectors and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

  7. Urban green space ecology through the creation of urban green spaces can therefore provide multiple ecosystem services and is a response to the challenges of biodiversity and climate change. 

Lastly, the JRC has elaborated the concepts of:  [COMING SOON...]

  • Urban heat island (UHI) mitigation 
  • Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs)
  • Positive Energy Buildings (PEBs)
  • Positive Energy Districts (PEDs)

such concepts can help cities plan a new way of urban development that tackles climate change adaptation through the mitigation of the urban heat island effect with nature-based solutions, the reduction of energy consumption through the promotion in policies of Nearly Zero or Zero Energy Buildings and Districts with passive techniques, and with the use of positiveness (more production than consumption in PEBs or PEDs) in some areas of the city to allow decarbonize heritage areas and residual emissions that cannot be improved further. On the other hand, Eco-districts / Green neighborhoods or Positive Clean Energy Districts, can also be used as a way of urban development aiming to deploy the objectives of sustainable development, focusing on integrating environmental, social, and economic goals. 
These strategies can also have co-benefits such as reducing energy consumption, improving air quality, and enhancing urban aesthetics.
 

LIST OF CONCEPTS IN NetZeroCities:

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CommunicationInfrastructureEmploymentResilience goalsAwareness RaisingDigital solutionsAir qualityBiodiversityBuildings and constructionCarbon CaptureClimate resilienceGreen hydrogenHeating and coolingIndustryLand-useNature-based solutionsRenewable energyTransport and mobilityWasteWater