Expert Commission on Cities and Climate Change

Around 50 per cent of the world population live in cities, in the richer countries even up to 80 per cent. Built on just three per cent of the world’s land surface, cities use about 80 per cent of its resources. According to Nicky Gavron, Deputy Mayor of London, Cities have a special responsibility to cut greenhouse gas emissions because they are huge consumers of energy and uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change such as flooding and heat waves.

The primary objective of the Expert Commission on Cities and Climate Change is to create a new understanding of modern cities and their production, consumption, transport and waste management systems against the background of climate change. There are several technologies and policies available to dramatically reduce the impact of cities on the global environment and the atmosphere. The primary task of the Commission is to explore these opportunities drawing on best practice examples and policies from around the world and to identify ways to enhance their implementation. The main objectives of the commission are to turn public awareness towards the responsibilities of cities in the age of climate change, identify the main obstacles to progress and facilitate the exchange of knowledge. Our focus will be what we regard as an “added value” rather than trying to reinvent the wheel.

The 15 members of the Commission are selected after careful consideration of their expertise and commitment to the issue. The Commission will have a lifetime of three to five years. It will hold two meetings per year, starting in October 2008. At each meeting the members will define three to four themes on which they will commission reports that will be written by Commission members or by specially invited experts. The Expert Commission on Cities and Climate Change is a co-operation between HafenCity University Hamburg, Europe’s first university that is teaching and researching solely on disciplines related to the built environment, and the World Future Council.