By 2100, temperatures in cities around the globe may increase an average of up to 4.4 degrees Celsius.
Temperatures in cities around the globe are rising twice as fast as the world average due to rapid urbanization and the replacement of vegetation by asphalt, concrete structures and other infrastructure, the United Nations Program for the Environment (UNEP).
“With growing populations especially in the tropics and rapid urbanization, the impact of the climate emergency is being felt more acutely in cities,” explained a UNEP report published on Wednesday entitled ‘Beating the heat: manual of sustainable district cooling ‘.
By 2100, temperatures in cities around the world may rise an average of up to 4.4 degrees Celsius, more than double the limit set in the Paris Agreement, according to an international team of researchers who participated in this report.
The communities most affected by this climate crisis will be those with the lowest incomes, established in urban areas with few green spaces and few economic possibilities to adapt to changes.
In addition, to withstand the increase in temperatures, many lower-middle class people have the option of installing air conditioners in their homes – in developed countries, 2.3 billion people will soon buy this type of machines – a scenario that UNEP considers environmentally “unsustainable”.
“These cooling practices tend to consume a lot of energy and depend to a large extent on electricity generated by fossil fuels, further aggravating the problem of waste heat and polluting gas emissions to the urban environment,” UNEP stressed.
“The warming of cities will occur unless there are immediate and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,” warned UNEP.
To reduce the consequences of the climate crisis, UNEP also proposed urban planning to city authorities that takes into account the importance of green areas and to launch massive awareness programs, among other measures. (I)
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