Quantifying Carbon Mitigation Wedges in U.S. Cities: Near-Term Strategy Analysis and Critical Review

Abstract

A case study of Denver, Colorado explores the roles of three social actors-individual users, infrastructure designer-operators, and policy actors-in near-term greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation in U.S. cities. Energy efficiency, renewable energy, urban design, price- and behavioral-feedback strategies are evaluated across buildings-facilities, transportation, and materials/waste sectors in cities, comparing voluntary versus regulatory action configurations. GHG mitigation impact depends upon strategy effectiveness per unit, as well as societal participation rates in various action-configurations. Greatest impact occurs with regulations addressing the vast existing buildings stock in cities, followed by voluntary behavior change in electricity use/purchases, technology shifts (e.g., to teleconferencing), and green-energy purchases among individual users. A portfolio mix of voluntary and regulatory actions can yield a best-case maximum of ~1% GHG mitigation annually in buildings and transportation sectors, combined. Relying solely on voluntary actions reduces mitigation rates more than five-fold. A portfolio analysis of climate action plans in 55 U.S. cities reveals predominance of voluntary outreach programs that have low societal participation rates and hence low GHG impact, while innovative higher-impact behavioral, technological, and policy/regulatory strategies are under-utilized. Less than half the cities capitalize on cross-scale linkages with higher-impact state-scale policies. Interdisciplinary field research can help address the mis-match in plans, actions, and outcomes.

Exploring Greenhouse Gas‐Mitigation Strategies in Chinese Eco‐Industrial Parks by Targeting Energy Infrastructure Stocks

“…Müller and colleagues () examined the carbon footprint of existing world‐wide infrastructure and determined that infrastructure development should be considered in post‐Kyoto agreements. Ramaswami and colleagues () analyzed the GHG emissions from urban infrastructure and discussed key mitigation measures. Moreover, infrastructural ecology has been proposed by Xu and colleagues () and Pandit and colleagues () as a paradigm to encourage sustainable urban infrastructure systems.…”

Urban carbon governance and the transition toward low-carbon urbanism: review of a global phenomenon

“…In London, the Western Extension was abolished in 2010 after the public overwhelmingly rejected the scheme [71]. No American city has successfully controlled automobile use through congestion charges [72]. New York City's proposal of congestion pricing failed to garner sufficient support in the State Legislature despite the fact that the vast majority of travel is not done with cars [73].…”

“…The local authority of Sydney benefits from the involvement of higher level governments and demonstrates an even greater willingness and capacity to promote retrofitting [89]. Positive synergies between local and regional policies have also been found in some cities in the United States, where deep cuts in building sector emissions are made possible by local initiatives working in conjunction with statewide policies such as renewable portfolio standards [72]. Local governments in Sweden and Norway have also benefited from the tools and financial incentives made available by the national government regarding low-carbon transition [90][91][92].…”

Technologies, policies and measures for GHG abatement at the urban scale

“…13;IEA, 2012a, UNEP, 2012) and a number of urban and sector-focused studies (Baeumler, Ijjasz-Vasquez, & Mehndiratta, 2012;Bongardt et al, 2010;Cambridge Systematics, 2009;Dalkmann & Brannigan, 2007;Dierkers et al, 2005;Grubler & Fisk, 2013;Hammer, Kamal-Chaoui, Robert, & Plouin, 2011;Hickman, Ashiru, & Banister, 2011;Hoornweg et al, 2011;Ramaswami et al, 2012;Ürge-Vorsatz et al, 2012). Policies and measures include types of regulations and standards, financial and market-based incentives (e.g.…”