With no significant stride towards ensuring sustainability in all walks of life, the human race seems on course to witness unprecedented temperature increases and associated threats, a new report has found. It highlighted that by 2040, almost two billion people residing in urban areas will face a 0.5 degree rise in temperature.
“Almost no urban resident will be unaffected, with billions of people subjected to hotter temperatures or exposed to the risks of flooding and other threats,” Anacláudia Rossbach, Executive Director of United Nations-Habitat, was quoted in a press statement issued on November 5.
The report titled World Cities Report 2024: Cities and Climate Action, noted that cities are both the victims of climate change and among its worst offenders — though disproportionately exposed to its impacts, they are also responsible for generating a significant share of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The rise in heat is not an isolated phenomenon but also paved the way for more turbulent weather patterns which involve erratic rainfall, flooding and cyclones.
“Many of the world’s largest mega-cities concentrate millions of people and trillions of dollars in assets into areas that are becoming more vulnerable to sudden shocks with every passing year. As they continue to expand, so too does their exposure, paving the way for potentially catastrophic disasters in future,” the report noted.
It underlined that overall, cities around the world need an estimated $4.5 to $5.4 trillion investment per year to build and maintain climate-resilient systems, yet current financing stands at just $831 billion — which is merely a fraction of the required amount.
While climate action in cities is failing to match the scale of the challenges faced, those most at risk are “also those already facing persistent and chronic structural inequalities,” Rossbach, head of UN-Habitat stressed.
“Informal settlements and slums – typically situated in environmentally sensitive areas and lacking in protective infrastructure – often bear the brunt of climate related disasters or extreme events,” she added.
The report highlighted that the pressures of poorly managed growth have also resulted in a rapid attrition of green space in urban areas, with the average share in urban areas worldwide falling from 19.5 per cent in 1990 to 13.9 per cent in 2020.
“Even more troubling is the evidence of climate interventions that have either failed to protect the most vulnerable communities or made their situation worse,” it stated.
The report argued that these instances include so-called ‘green gentrification’, when beneficial measures such as the creation of parks either result in the direct displacement of underprivileged households or push up property values, effectively pricing them out.