- 50 cities, including Jakarta, Paris, Quito, Lund, Louisville and Istanbul, representing 80 million inhabitants are joining FutureproofedCities as part of the WWF’s One Planet City Challenge (OPCC)
- Collaboration is key to helping cities globally make the climate transition
- Driving climate action is complex - and the best digital tools can help cities kickstart change
Climate change is altering our planet, and the effects are felt all around the world. In order to reduce the gap to the 1.5°C threshold, cities represent an enormous opportunity to make a change: more than 50% of humans live in cities and the local governments who represent them have a leading role to play in climate mitigation.
Many cities around the world are taking action, but for others, turning climate ambitions into real-world climate measures can be tough, with small, under-resourced teams creating elaborate spreadsheets and reports that are hard to follow and harder still to apply to future steps.
WWF's One Planet City Challenge (OPCC) is taking the lead to support cities in their climate action planning. Futureproofed is excited to be part of that journey, welcoming these cities to our digital platform and community, FutureproofedCities, to help them move forward towards their climate goals.
A community of 192 cities tackling climate change
Many mayors and their teams struggle with the following questions:
- What actions and policies will lead to the largest emissions reductions?
- How to get our citizens on board for this big transition?
- How much will that cost? What is the payback time?
- How will it benefit our cities?
From working in isolated departments to lacking reliable data and climate action planning, their limitations are many.
With FutureproofedCities and WWF's guidance, we hope to see as many cities as possible defining climate plans in line with a 1.5°C trajectory. With support from both WWF's national offices and FutureproofedCities' climate coaches, the 50 cities selected join the community of more than 140 other municipalities already using FutureproofedCities. These cities include Jakarta, Paris, Quito, Lund, Louisville and Istanbul, and collectively represent more than 80 million inhabitants. Together, they will report progress, share solutions, and work together to tackle the climate emergency. And their citizens win too: quality of life will improve and more local jobs can be created.
A collective effort to support cities with climate mitigation
Enabled by digital tools with the best climate data available and planning features, cities will have a solid action overview and the support needed to tackle climate initiatives – and many more. Quality climate data makes it easier to plan the decisions that will yield the most results.
In the road of the climate transition, good data is crucial – but so is implementation and collaboration, both horizontally (across departments, for example) and vertically (citizens, cities, inter-communal organizations, provinces and regions).
What works and what doesn't? Sharing knowledge in real-time across countries, continents, and context is key to success. When we can align experts within cities and departments, we can motivate citizens and politicians to take ownership – visualising and sharing the positive effects of the climate actions taken.
Solving climate change with innovative tools
Technology can ensure easy collaboration between cities all over the world - and their success in climate action.
With the help of FutureproofedCities, cities can collaborate with their team, peers, and citizens to develop, monitor, and implement climate action, they can easily take substantial action steps, e.g. restoring biodiversity, refurbishing and improving the building stock, building a 100% clean energy system, and accelerating the transition to smart, sustainable transportation.
Besides getting the best data available to build the foundation for the actions, one of the greatest features of FutureproofedCities is the ability to share progress reports at any given time. This will show how many of the signed cities have aligned our climate plans with a 1.5 °C trajectory, quantifying the financial and CO2 payoffs, along with co-benefits and contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals.
Technology empowers us towards climate action. As we share our knowledge and experience, we allow actions to be even stronger and more grounded. Together with WWF’s One Planet City Challenge (OPCC), over 190 cities across five continents have already joined the efforts in achieving net-zero.
Join us today, and book a demo to learn how FutureproofedCities can support your city's climate action.
