A global climate research agenda will be announced at the Cities and Climate Change Science Conference this week in Edmonton (Canada). ICLEI is among the CitiesIPCC partner organisations providing practical support to the conference.

In an article published recently in Nature in the lead-up to the conference, leading climate experts identified among the most pressing priorities for cities and climate-change research, “Comparative studies are needed… in different contexts to disentangle these interactions and to find solutions. We need to know how urban morphologies, building materials and human activities affect atmospheric circulation, heat and light radiation, urban energy and water budgets.” The authors called on researchers and city authorities to extend the quantity and types of urban data collected.

Jeremy Carter, University of Manchester (UK), is attending the conference to present the RESIN project’s Climate Risk Typology, which will take steps towards exactly this objective. The RESIN Climate Risk Typology supports adaptation planning by offering users the means to describe, compare and analyse climate risk in European cities and regions.

At a special session organised by ICLEI during the UN Habitat World Urban Forum in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), “CITIESIPCC: Advancing science to accelerate effective climate action in human settlements,” cities and scientists expressed their hopes for the conference to see newly partnerships forged between young researchers in the global South and experienced institutions in European cities and to lay a solid foundation for increased global collaboration on scientific research and knowledge-sharing, particularly to tackle the common challenge of climate change.

“Climate change is a uniquely global challenge; it doesn’t discriminate based on geography, and so we see its effects in every corner of the world,” said IPCC Co-Chair Dr. Debra Roberts. “Our response must also be global, uniting people across cities, countries and continents. That enables us to share best practices based in sound science to meet global commitments that will create a more sustainable and just urban world for future generations.” The conference will bring together 750 scientists, policymakers, researchers, and development experts.

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