130 ■ CITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE
considered most likely in academic and policy circles to be faced with some
form of emissions reduction target in the post-2012 era and where many of
the world’s largest and potentially most vulnerable cities are located. Th is focus
directs our attention to what is taking place in cities in the global South and
newly industrialized and non–Annex I countries under the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (Brazil, China, India,
Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, and the Republic of Korea), as well as in Aus-
tralia, a country that joined the Kyoto framework in late 2007. Th e case stud-
ies—conducted in Beijing, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Mexico City,
Mumbai, New Delhi, São Paulo, Seoul, and Yogyakarta—therefore provide
important evidence about the drivers and challenges facing cities in rapidly
industrializing countries in addressing climate change. Given the range of cities
included, and the diff erences in socioeconomic context, insights can be gained
from these cases that have broader applicability, though it is recognized that
these insights may have limited validity for cities in low-income countries.
Climate Change and the Built Environment
Th e built environment—comprising domestic, commercial, and public build-
ings—is a signifi cant contributor to global GHG emissions. Th e building sector
consumes roughly one-third of the fi nal energy used in most countries, and it
absorbs an even more signifi cant share of electricity. Electricity use in com-
mercial buildings is driving peak demand in Japan, the United States, and some
of the wealthier countries in the global South. As a result of concerns about
the implications for climate change, and historical concerns about energy costs
and security of supply, governments in both industrialized countries and the
global South have initiated policies to reduce energy consumption in buildings.
Most of these policies can be grouped into one of the following three categories:
economic incentives (such as taxes or energy pricing), regulatory requirements
(such as codes or standards), or informational programs (such as energy aware-
ness campaigns or energy audits). More recently, growth in voluntary public-
private partnerships (such as Energy Star in the United States and the Carbon
Trust Standard in the United Kingdom) and the role of private actors (such as
the C40 and the Clinton Climate Initiative) have changed the landscape for
improvement by setting more ambitious “stretch” goals for the building indus-
try and its clients and by resetting norms for how energy is used in buildings.
Although historically the main focus of action with respect to climate change
and the built environment has been on issues of mitigation, the challenges
posed by adaptation are increasingly being recognized. Such challenges are
usually framed in terms of “resilient” buildings. One such example is buildings
designed to recover quickly from the impact of fl ooding through ensuring that