Environmental Footprints of Cities: A New Approach

I dette prosjektet har vi beregnet karbon- og andre ressursfotavtrykk for byer og lokale myndigheter. Da prosjektet startet, var ideen om en Scope 3-vurdering av karbon- eller biodiversitetsfotavtrykk for en by en original idé. Nå, flere år senere, er begrepet vanlig ved store institutter som World Resource Institute og C40. Opprinnelig hadde dette prosjektet som mål å utarbeide detaljerte Scope 3-tabeller for byer. Det har vi gjort. Vi og andre som jobber med dette har lært er at det ikke er nok å beskrive byers fotavtrykk i detalj. Målet med den opprinnelige tilnærmingen var å undersøke fotavtrykket til individuelle husholdninger og skalere det til bynivå. Gjennom prosjektarbeidet og lærdom fra andre i feltet erfarte vi at private husholdninger kanskje ikke er det beste stedet å fokusere. I stedet er det (a) byformens struktur, dvs. transportmåtene, byggeforskriftene, oppdelingen i soner og atferdsmessige oppfordringer som kan ha større innvirkning på et individs fotavtrykk enn hens private beslutninger, og (b) for de fleste byer, anbefaler utøvere i økende grad at byen fokuserer på Scope 1, 2 og 3 fotavtrykk av sin egen kommunale virksomhet siden myndighetene har mye kontroll over det, og lite kontroll over private husholdninger. Vårt opprinnelige forskningsspørsmål var: Er det mønstre i den arealmessige og sosioøkonomiske fordelingen av karbonfotavtrykk? Det er lettere å iverksette tiltak når det er fokusert på bestemte grupper eller områder av økonomien. Vi ser etter slike alternativer for intervensjon for byer og lokale myndigheter. Tiltak bør justeres til byens demografi og region: noen steder bør karboneffektiv transport, dvs. transitt, sykler og bilfrie områder prioriteres, mens det i andre områder kan være oppgradering av bygninger, energieffektiviseringstiltak eller grønne elektrisitetsstandarder mer viktig. Prosjektet undersøkte dette spørsmålet gjennom artikler som ga høyoppløselige resultater for by-fotavtrykk i Japan, India, Australia og EU (kommer). I forbindelse med dette prosjektet har vi også publisert en oversikt som estimerer direkte Scope 1 CO2-utslipp for 108 000 byer i Europa: https://openghgmap.net

This project had good foresight in identifying Scope 3 footprints at the city level as a topic of emerging interest. Where this topic was merely on the horizon at the start of this project, now Scope 3 assessments at the city level are part of the mainstream discussion. Guidelines for cities to understand and calculate their Scope 3 emissions are now relatively mainstream as promulgated by the C40 and WRI . The next step in this field is to step from academic knowledge about cities’ Scope 3 footprint to actionable policy. We see for example a recent C40 RFP looking for specific policy guidance for London and New York. Most of the work conducted in this project was about characterizing the total footprint of cities. What became clearer through this research is that focusing on individual households may not be the best leverage point for cities to reduce their footprint. Instead, it is (1) policies which affect the entire environment (e.g. building codes, transit plans, zoning, and behavioral nudging.) and (2) actions to reduce the footprint of the city’s own municipal operations which are powerful and more practical areas to address. The scientific papers resulting from this project covered a range of topics. Here we can summarize the topic areas covered: - Contributions for the IPCCC process: - Demographic analysis of Scope 3 footprints - The footprint of food, which is a major component of household footprints: - Footprint results in India, Japan, Australia, and Europe - Continued advances on the work tracing embodied GHG in supply chains: - Policy recommendations and implications of Scope 3 accounting: - Exploring new methods for Scope 1 emissions inventories Another outcome is the development of a museum exhibition which is now on fixed display at Vitenskapsmuseet in Trondheim. Originally developed for the FUTURUM “Big Challenge” science festival in Trondheim, this exhibit featured infographics and interactive wood cubes containing insights, provocations, and suggestions for action regarding urban footprints. The exhibit is now permanently housed in the Vitenskapsmuseet in Trondheim where it is visited by many school classes every week. In addition to dissemination, training is also an important function of RCN funding. In this regard, it is healthy to see two postdocs working under the PI’s direction land tenured positions in academia. Johannes Többen has a joint position between the PIK research institute in Potsdam and GWS, a private environmental/economic consulting agency, and Heran Zheng after completing this project has secured a tenured position at the University College London.

Many towns in Norway have a city forest ("bymarka" in Norwegian) where city-dwellers can go to connect with nature. But not all cities have such a close connection to nature. Most cities drive large environmental footprints not just directly outside of the city limits, but globally. Increasingly, individuals, together with their governments and the companies that link them to primary producers, want to contribute to reducing their overall environmental footprint. A disproportionately large share of global environmental pressure is driven by wealthy cities and suburbs. It is estimated that up to nearly half of the global carbon is footprint is driven by the 10% of top earners, those making more than $7500 per year. Individuals can take steps to reduce their environmental impact, but typically two-thirds of a household’s total carbon footprint is governed by institutional factors (e.g. transport modes, building stock, public infrastructure). While national-level policies are undoubtedly critical to GHG mitigation, it is often up to local communities to implement actions. Considering their total supply-chain footprint gives new opportunities for communities to contribute to reducing their GHG footprint. However, most cities and states do not know anything about the carbon footprints within their jurisdiction. Undertaking studies on this is laborious and expensive. In this research project we will use advanced data-integration techniques to estimate the geodemographic distribution of carbon and other resource footprints at a neighborhood level globally, and provide these results to city and state-level governments. This project integrates perspectives from consumer behavior psychology, economics, and engineering, and the outputs from this work will be useful both for practical applications, through consulting applications, and for research in the disciplines of economics, geography, political science, sociology, and urban planning, among others.