Aromar Revi

1. Scaling Up the Ambition around Sustainable
Development & Climate Action in Urban Areas
Launch of the Summary for Urban Policymakers (SUP) of the IPCC
6th Assessment Report
Aromar Revi
Director, IIHS & Co-Chair, UNSDSN
CLA, AR5 Ch8; CLA SR1.5 Ch4, CLA AR6 WG2 Ch18 & AR6 CWT SYR
CLA SUP2018 & SUP2021-22
CoP26, Glasgow
11th November 2021

2. • Why is scaling the implementation of Sustainable
Development & Climate Action in Urban Areas
important?

3. … Cities and fossil fuels and have had a close but
difficult relationship for the last 150 years

4. together they
created an
Industrial
Revolution...

5. cities filled with cars and
other ‘wonderful’ things

6. .. Economies fueled by an
‘limitless’ supply of fossil
fuel

7. …. with some nasty unintended consequences

8. Global S02
emissions:
11th November 2021

9. If nothing changes, warming is likely to reach 1.5°C by the 2030s.
At the same time that we’re trying to implement the 17 SDGs!
1.5°C

10. Potential Risks & Impacts at 1.5°C and of an Overshoot to 2°C
System Region 1.5°C 2°C SDGs
Coastal Settlements Global, Asia, SIDS 31-69 million at risk 31-79 million at risk SDG 11, 14 & 15: Cities,
Life on Land & Below water
Health Global, Tropics 350+ million exposed
to deadly heatwaves in
megacities
SDG 3: Health
Agriculture Global, Africa, Asia, 32-36 million affected
by reduced yields
330-396 million
affected by reduced
yields
SDG 2: Zero Hunger
Water Global, Africa, Asia,
Mediterranean
496 million water
stressed
590 million water
stressed
SDG6: Water & Sanitation
Ecosystems
e.g. Coral reefs
Tropical 70-90% risk of loss 99% risk of loss SDG 15: Life on Land

11. Can we make the transition to a 1.5°C world?

12. … Incheon gave us a great gift of science.. SR1.5C,
followed by the AR6 WG1 ‘Code Red’ report

14. Energy
system
transition
Industrial
system
transition
Land & ocean
ecosystem
transitions
Urban &
infrastructure
system
transition
Four Simultaneous Global Systems Transitions

15. Leaving nobody, no place & no ecosystem behind
Simultaneous Climate Action + SDG implementation

16. What makes this difficult & unique?
Simultaneous Implementation across
1. Key sectors, converging with Sustainable Development
2. Multiple scales (local à national à global)
3. Diverse stakeholders (governments, enterprises,
communities, civil society, knowledge institutions)
4. Adaptation and Mitigation together

17. We need dramatically upscaled ambition, simultaneous
accelerated implementation & a new partnership paradigm
(~200 countries + >5,000 places + >>10,000 firms)