Cities around the world are highly vulnerable to climate change, but have great potential to lead on both adaptation and mitigation efforts. Despite the economic and political constraints that many cities face, they are serving as important laboratories for climate change action.
These efforts have produced much helpful climate risk and response information. In order to effectively address the challenges presented by climate change, cities need to incorporate climate science, adaptation strategies, and mitigation actions into daily decision-making and long-term plans and investments. Many cities in both developing and developed country cities are also centers for research and house extensive research communities that are able and willing to help develop plans for assessing and acting on climate change.
Many cities are developing both near- and long-term climate action plans-but many more need to bring climate adaptation and mitigation into their everyday operations as well as their longer-term planning process. The First Assessment Report on Climate Change and Cities (ARC3) of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN) provides knowledge to urban policy-makers for science-based city climate actions through an on-going information collection, review, and sharing process.
