CitiesIPCC conference advances science research agenda

The inaugural CitiesIPCC Cities and Climate Change Science Conference is taking place in Edmonton, Canada, to advance global understanding of the impacts of climate change on cities, and their critical role in meeting the challenge.

Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna and IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee were among the speakers at the opening session of the three-day event on 5 March.

With over half the worlds population, cities are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, as well as being a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. So cities offer particular opportunities for mitigation and adaptation. The IPCC wants to encourage research into cities and climate change for its future assessments, and the CitiesIPCC conference in Edmonton is an essential stage in that process, said Dr. Hoesung Lee, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Co-sponsored by the IPCC, the conference brings together 750 decision-makers, local government leaders, mayors and scientists. It will assess the current state of understanding of cities and climate change, forge stronger partnerships, and chart a course for increased global collaboration on scientific research, funding, and knowledge-sharing.

This work will support a new special report on climate change and cities prepared by the IPCC and develop a blueprint for new scientific research supporting effective climate action strategies in cities around the world.

 The climate-related realities we face make it all the more relevant that local governments remain steadfast on enacting science-based policy. Cities continue to listen to hard scientific evidence as they prepare their communities for the many risks associated with climate change, said Don Iveson, Mayor of Edmonton.

The mayors of the worlds great cities are committed to urgent and bold climate action. As they develop their climate action plans to deliver their share of the Paris Agreement goals, mayors need the strongest possible data and research to guide them. Whether understanding the impacts of climate change on our cities or identifying the benefits that accompany climate 

action, science and cities need to collaborate as never before. CitiesIPCC will be a key milestone in our collective effort to realise the ambition of the Paris Agreement, said Mark Watts, Executive Director, C40 Cities.  

Cities represent the next frontier in climate science. There is a need for both long-term projections of climate change over decades and centuries to help us design resilient and sustainable cities of the future right now. And we also need very localized weather forecasts and climate predictions on timescales from hours to years to decades in order to optimally manage complex urban systems and protect life and property, said  Deon Terblanche, acting director of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP).

WCRP, which is co-sponsored by WMO is one of the partners of the conference.

WMO is showcasing two new initiatives at the event:

The Integrated Urban Weather, Environment and Climate  Services seeks to provide science-based integrated urban services supporting safe, healthy and resilient cities. WMO is currently developing a guide to this new initiative and is hosting a session at the CitiesIPCC conference to gather feedback and input.

The intent of the guide is to document the best available knowledge, technologies and practices for producing and providing the relevant services that cities require to respond to the hazards posed by climate change. Such services include a combination of dense observation networks, high-resolution forecasts, multi-hazard early warning systems, and climate services. These services should assist cities in setting and implementing mitigation and adaptation strategies to build resilient and thriving cities that promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The guide also plans to include a multidisciplinary approach to better serve the social-economic needs of urban areas, and identify the required partnerships to establish and sustain urban services, including research, city governments, international organizations, and private sector stakeholders.

Integrated Greenhouse Gas Information System

WMO has initiated the development of an Integrated Global Greenhouse Gas Information System to help guide greenhouse gas emission reduction actions. The aim is to build confidence in the role of atmospheric composition measurements as an essential part of climate change mitigation efforts.

WMO representatives are speaking at sessions at the CitiesIPCC conference on mapping the greenhouse gas data landscape. As interest in the emissions profile of cities has grown, so has the range of stakeholders and use-cases for the data included in a community-scale greenhouse gas inventory. In many cases inventories are built around best available activity data rather than data tailored for a particular purpose. As multi-year data from cities emerges, limitations of certain data for understanding progress and performance management are coming into sharper focus. Meanwhile novel approaches for direct measurement of gases emanating from cities are maturing and offer insight into these challenges.

A series of research papers from the CitiesIPCC Scientific Steering Committee and published in Nature and Nature Climate Change was presented at the conference. showecased at the , including five commissioned research papers and a separate batch of four research papers published in Nature and Nature Climate Change. These papers frame some key issues being discussed at the conference this week.