Abstract
Confronted with cascading health, environmental and economic crises, cities around the world are challenging traditional understandings of recovery as being dependent on short-term high-carbon development. This study investigates whether and how the COVID-19 has represented a critical juncture for cities in both developed and developing countries to embark on enduring low-carbon and climate-resilient pathways.
Through a comparative case study, using both document analysis and semi-structured interviews with city level officers, we seek to identify factors that influence whether and why cities have embarked on low-carbon and resilient pathways, returned to prior unsustainable pathways, or backtracked on climate commitments and reverted to unsustainable pathways. In particular, the study identifies causal mechanisms by which the impacts of the pandemic have interacted with contextual factors to influence whether cities have pursued high- or low-carbon/resilience pathways in response to COVID-19.
The empirical focus is on four pairs of cities in Germany, North America, Kenya and India. Although these cities all report climate action (to CDP, (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), their responses to COVID-19 and climate action widely varied widely between 2019 and 2021. Underlying our case selection is the assumption that decarbonization and climate resilient development is a truly global challenge. Where many studies on city-level climate action have often focused on cities in the global North, the current study examines differentiated roles in the common challenge for decarbonization and climate resilience across developed and developing countries.
By revealing the complex set of factors that shape whether or not cities’ responses to COVID-19 have resulted in increased or decreased climate action, this study reveals how cities can be supported to achieve ambitious and transformative climate action.
Through a comparative case study, using both document analysis and semi-structured interviews with city level officers, we seek to identify factors that influence whether and why cities have embarked on low-carbon and resilient pathways, returned to prior unsustainable pathways, or backtracked on climate commitments and reverted to unsustainable pathways. In particular, the study identifies causal mechanisms by which the impacts of the pandemic have interacted with contextual factors to influence whether cities have pursued high- or low-carbon/resilience pathways in response to COVID-19.
The empirical focus is on four pairs of cities in Germany, North America, Kenya and India. Although these cities all report climate action (to CDP, (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), their responses to COVID-19 and climate action widely varied widely between 2019 and 2021. Underlying our case selection is the assumption that decarbonization and climate resilient development is a truly global challenge. Where many studies on city-level climate action have often focused on cities in the global North, the current study examines differentiated roles in the common challenge for decarbonization and climate resilience across developed and developing countries.
By revealing the complex set of factors that shape whether or not cities’ responses to COVID-19 have resulted in increased or decreased climate action, this study reveals how cities can be supported to achieve ambitious and transformative climate action.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2022 |
| Event | 2022 Toronto Conference on Earth System Governance: Governing accelerated transitions: justice, creativity, and power in a transforming world - Toronto, Canada Duration: 20 Oct 2022 → 24 Oct 2022 |
Conference
| Conference | 2022 Toronto Conference on Earth System Governance |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Canada |
| City | Toronto |
| Period | 20/10/22 → 24/10/22 |