272 ■ CITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE
developing country. It is realized that, although the United Kingdom is at the
forefront of developing standards and methodologies for reducing the envi-
ronmental impact of existing buildings, there is a lack of good-quality bottom-
up data sets of real energy consumption in buildings. However, in the United
States, there are good building energy datasets available, but CO 2 -reduction
policies seem more fragmented in the absence of legal national-level targets
for CO 2 reduction. In India, work is ongoing on target setting, policy evalu-
ation, and initial data collection to provide baseline energy consumption in
buildings.
Framework for City Climate Risk Assessment
Shagun Mehrotra, Claudia E. Natenzon, Ademola Omojola, Regina
Folorunsho, Joseph Gilbride, and Cynthia Rosenzweig
Estimation of spatially and temporally disaggregated climate risks is a criti-
cal prerequisite for the assessment of eff ective and effi cient adaptation and
mitigation climate change strategies and policies in complex urban areas. Th is
interdisciplinary research reviews current literature and practices, identifi es
knowledge gaps, and defi nes future research directions for creating a risk-
based climate change adaptation framework for climate and cities programs.
Th e focus is on cities in developing and emerging economies. Th e framework
unpacks risk into three vectors—hazards, vulnerabilities, and adaptive capacity.
Th ese vectors consist of a combination of physical science, geographical, and
socioeconomic elements that can be used by municipal governments to cre-
ate and carry out climate change action plans. Some of these elements include
climate indicators, global climate change scenarios, downscaled regional sce-
narios, change anticipated in extreme events, qualitative assessment of high-
impact and low-probability events, associated vulnerabilities, and the ability
and willingness to respond. Th e gap between existing responses and the fl ex-
ible mitigation and adaptation pathways needed is also explored. To enhance
robustness, the framework components have been developed and tested in sev-
eral case study cities: Buenos Aires, Delhi, Lagos, and New York City. Th e focus
is on articulating diff erential impacts on poor and nonpoor urban residents as
well as sectorally disaggregating implications for infrastructure and social well-
being, including health. Finally, some practical lessons are drawn for successful
policies and programs at the city level that aim to reduce systemic climate risks,
especially for the most vulnerable populations. Additionally, a programmatic
response is articulated with a four-track approach to risk assessment and craft -
ing of adaptation mechanisms that leverages existing and planned investments
in cities so that city governments can respond to climate change eff ectively and
effi ciently.