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i read the latest ipcc report so you don’t have to WILL SALKELD CW: Discussions of Climate Change and existential risk Reading any Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is a bit like going to the dentist. Every year, you dread it. It reveals the inaction since the last visit and the increasing risks posed for you later in life. As climate-anxiety-inducing as they may be, I do believe there are takeaways which can guide our individual decision making and understanding of the global climate situation. So, I read one of the latest IPCC reports, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change (the condensed version for policymakers) so that you don’t have to. A Tale of Huge Cities: Increased Emissions in Urban Areas A key message from the 2022 Working Group III IPCC report (Mitigation of Climate Change) was the role that increasing urbanisation had in anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions growth. The energy supply and industry sectors decreased their emissions output and transport remained about the same. Just between 2015-2020, the share of emissions that can be
attributed to activity in urban areas increased from 62 percent to an estimated 67-72 percent. There are several reasons why cities contribute so much to emissions. One, there is a strong correlation between income (typically higher in urban areas) and GHGemitting activities like household energy use. Two, the ever-increasing construction of buildings in our cities involves using materials such as steel whose production is emissions-intensive.
Source: IPCC Working Group III contribution to the IPCC sixth assessment report (AR6) Notes: The below percentages do not include the final location of energy use. For example, if energy use for electricity and heating is allocated to the final location where it is used, the percentage of Buildings would increase to 16 percent and industry would increase to 34 percent.
