My questions are
these: how do we get local communities to align with the common cause of
creating sustainable urban environments, and how do move globally to a new
carbon adverse economy to avoid the bigger risk of a future based on fossil
fuels.
A
longer-term agenda could be about people, their place and surroundings. Local
smart solutions could be about Local Authorities, business and communities
working together to recognise the responsibilities of location and society with
Cities at the heart of this; as we move towards 80% of humanity living in them.
The urgency would then be to move forward with the re invention of cities into
sustainable, adaptive, healthy and responsible urban communities; able to cope
with the inevitable complexities of our future existence.
So
I put it to you that our cities will be the battle ground between traditional
financial market forces and the urban drive towards essential low carbon smart
city economies. It seems to me, the World’s financial markets can't be expected
to solve the fossil fuels dependency problem because they simply don't know how
to make the big changes quickly enough to avoid the potential for the biggest
ever economic meltdown if we continue the current path towards 4 to 6°C of
global warming.
We
all know there’s been a vast amount of climate change information produced over
the past 20 years. But we are in danger of assuming it is producing meaningful
action.
The
past financial crisis demonstrated what happens when big risks accumulate
without adequate management; as indicated by Lord Stern saying the risks are
"very big indeed". Sadly it’s not much different today. The so-called
"carbon bubble" is a result of an over-valuation of oil, coal and gas
reserves held by fossil fuel companies. According to a UCL report in 2014, at least two-thirds of these reserves will have to remain
underground if the world is to meet the existing internationally agreed targets
to avoid "dangerous" climate change. The recent Earth Day 2015 report concluded that broadly we must keep 75% of all known fossil
fuels in the ground.
London,
as with many cities, faces future challenges relating to: growth; urbanisation;
pollution; resource efficiency; and a changing climate. London’s population is projected to grow by
12% over the next 20 years. The resulting demands and pressure on energy
infrastructure and natural resources obliges city infrastructure providers and
consumers to adapt intelligently to ensure efficient, affordable and
sustainable solutions. London and other UK cities are with others at the forefront
of this change, piloting and pioneering new secure, flexible, low carbon and
growth-stimulating urban based solutions that could be cost-effective, smarter,
cleaner and locally managed. The difficult organisational system and societal
changes need to merge the role of consumers and producers in developing and
providing, healthy energy, food, water and mobility integrated solutions that
respect the limits of natural resources, the need for total recycling of waste
and create cities that integrate strategic urban green landscaping. The real
innovation is to join it all up in a holistic systems approach to achieve best
value, clean urban environments and sustainable low carbon economies.
For
example the path finding works by the city of Durban. Where transitioning to a low carbon city was
the focus of a consensus study from which its report provides 12 key strategic
recommendations, as well as sector-specific recommendations, which Durban needs
to address in order to transition to a low carbon city.
I
believe the issues are beyond international leadership and global conferences
now and that a world of local empowered urban communities working in parallel
with each other, backed up by enforceable law is likely to provide the fastest
and most effective strategy. People are the cause and yet they are also the
solution. The Rocky Park community garden scheme in Bethnal Green London which
I visited recently is a great example that people can take positive action to
green – up their local urban area and bring about better social behaviour.
The
role of governments I suggest is to educate and empower cities and urban
communities to change and to respond to the biggest conflict and opportunity
the human race has ever needed to grasp.
George
Adams
