The pivotal role of cities for a sustainable future
European cities have the potential to lead the way towards a green, sustainable future, according to two assessments on urban environmental change, published by the European Environment Agency (EEA). The CMCC Foundation – lead institution for the European Topic Centre on Climate Change Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation (ETC/CCA), contributed to these products.
Cities face huge challenges in trying to shift to a greener future in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the full impact of the pandemic is still being assessed, it is already clear that cities currently face a triple challenge, that include tackling the health impacts of the pandemic, dealing with the climate and ecological emergency, and addressing social and economic inequalities.
This is what emerges from the briefing Urban sustainability in Europe – opportunities in challenging times, published this week by the European Environment Agency together with the report Urban Sustainability in Europe — What is driving cities’ environmental change, which explores work on what could make up a benchmark on how cities evaluate key drivers of and barriers to urban sustainability transitions. The report is based on a survey and interviews with selected European cities.
The briefing and report are part of a series of products the EEA will publish over the coming months on urban environmental sustainability.
Margaretha Breil, senior scientist at the CMCC Foundation – lead institution for the European Topic Centre on Climate Change Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation (ETC/CCA), an international consortium working with the European Environment Agency under a framework partnership agreement for the period 2019-2021 – contributed to these works by providing input and discussion on urban resilience and the connections between resilience and sustainability.
Future work of the series will focus on climate resilience, quality of life, accessibility, healthy environment, food security, circularity, clean energy and sustainable buildings — at urban level.
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