Make cities greener to reach net zero carbon emissions

London Dozens of world cities can reach net zero carbon emissions over the next 10 years by incorporating urban parks, greenspace and trees into their infrastructure, according to a new study.

Published in the journal, Nature Climate Change, the analysis shows the ways cities can orchestrate a wide range of green solutions like parks, street scaping and roof gardens to not only capture carbon emissions, but help reduce them.

The study was undertaken by researchers from Sweden, the US and China. It recommends the most effective approaches for natural carbon sequestration in 54 cities in the European Union.

And it shows how blending these steps with other climate actions can enable cities to reach net-zero carbon and actually reduce emissions by an average of 17.4 per cent.

Zahra Kalantari, an associate professor in Water and Environmental Engineering at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, said the researchers focused on the indirect ways that so-called “nature-based solutions” can contribute to carbon neutrality.