12 ■ CITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE
of mitigation or adaptation. Comprehensive and integrated approaches, which
include both mitigation and adaptation strategies and the synergies between
them, are needed to fully address this challenge. Th ey also off er opportunities
for cities to identify and take advantage of cobenefi ts; for example, investments
in energy effi ciency in buildings can both reduce GHG emissions and increase
resilience in the face of more extreme weather conditions. Although much
work is already taking place on integrated approaches that deliver cobenefi ts,
greater awareness of these is needed, as is broader implementation in the fi eld,
beyond demonstration and piloting.
Th e symposium—its papers, presentations, and discussions—reveals
numerous areas in which further research is required to strengthen diagnosis
and policies at the local level, building on what is already under way. Several
of these are highlighted here. First, the advances made to measure and analyze
city GHG emissions need to be consolidated and eventually lead to interna-
tionally accepted methodologies used with the same rigor and accountability
by cities in both the global North and South. Th is will ensure that mitigation
eff orts are well targeted within cities with progress toward mitigation targets
properly tracked, and this clarity and consistency will facilitate access to addi-
tional fi nance. Second is the need to continue to expand work on adaptation
in cities, in terms of both understanding future climate impacts and imple-
menting the most eff ective adaptation actions in response to specifi c risks
including disasters. Th ird, we need to increase our knowledge of the unique
circumstances of developing country cities, because considerable variation
is found among these cities across regions and across diff erent city sizes and
locations. Fourth is the need to undertake further economic and social analy-
ses of all aspects of climate change in cities; this was especially apparent from
the relatively small proportion of papers at the symposium on economic and
social issues: Only a handful of papers addressed the crucial issue of fi nancing
climate actions in cities. Th e costs and benefi ts of (non)action, social infl u-
ences, and behavioral studies are central to understanding the basis of public
attitudes and behavior for eff ective climate change action. Last but not least,
data availability is a critical constraint, for which continued eff orts in data col-
lection and utilization are needed.
Th e overwhelming response to the symposium far exceeded initial expecta-
tions. It is clear that the fi eld of research on cities and climate change is growing
and rapidly evolving, which bodes well to ensure that the best knowledge and
analysis is applied to the urgent challenges that cities face in responding to cli-
mate change. Th e World Bank and its partners are committed to working with
cities, researchers, and other agencies to improve the well-being of cities and
their residents, especially the poor and the vulnerable.