Capetonians emit more greenhouse gases than residents of London, New York or Tokyo. This emerged from a climate change study released yesterday on greenhouse gas emissions for 100 cities in 33 countries. Although the study does not stipulate the reason Cape Town residents having a higher greenhouse gas footprint than many other cities, it makes the general observation that the greenhouse gas footprint of a city reflects “lifestyle choices” made by residents, the nature of the city´s infrastructure, type of electricity generation, economical structure and geographical position.
Cape Town´s electricity comes mostly from fossil fuels, many residential areas are far from the city centre, public transport is underdeveloped and there is a heavy reliance on motor vehicles for daily commuting.
The study, Cities and Greenhouse Gas Emissions, by the International Institute for Environment and Development, says urban residents and their “associated affluence” account for more than 80% of the world´s greenhouse gas emissions. However, residents who live in denser cities can emit half of the greenhouse gas emissions of their suburban neighbours. This is illustrated by a comparison between New York City, where residents emit 10.5 tons of greenhouse gases a person, and Denver, where they emit 21.5 tons.
“This is mainly attributable to New York´s greater density and much lower reliance on the automobile for commuting,” the study said. The study also says there is a high disparity in emissions between rich and poor countries. Residents of several major US cities, as well as those in Sydney, Calgary and Stuttgart, emit more than 15 tons of greenhouse gas a person, compared with less than half a ton a person in cities in Nepal, India and Bangladesh.
The study acknowledges that there are different views on how to assess the level of climate change “responsibility” that should be assigned to cities, with some saying most carbon emissions occur outside the bound of cities. The authors argue that although many high-emitting industries are located behind city boundaries, such as power generation from fossil fuels, these would not exist were it not for cities and are part of a city´s climate change responsibility.
“Therefore emissions from these rural sources are the responsibility of the city they serve,” the study states.
Within any one city, there are large disparities between residents as to the amount of greenhouse gas they generate. Lifestyles of the affluent result in more greenhouse gas emissions than those of poorer residents. “Lifestyle and consumption patterns are key drivers of greenhouse gas emissions in far-off cities, as in the case of Western consumer demand for Chinese goods“, said Daniel Hoornweg, one of the authors. “From the production perspective, Shanghai has high emissions but from the consumption perspective its emissions are much lower.“
David Satterthwaite, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development said: “This paper reminds us that it is the world´s wealthiest cities and their wealthiest inhabitants that cause unsustainable levels of greenhouse gas emissions, not cities in general.“
Being a Capetonian myself, I am peturbed by this! Come on fellow Mother City dwellers let´s clean up our act so that next year we don´t feature on this list at all! liveeco provides you all with hundreds of easy to follow, inexpensive tips every day so try a few today and be the change you want to see in the world.
Source: Cape Times, 26 January 2011.
The liveeco team
